


The Finer Things

by Sevargs



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Bad Coping Habits, Cloud is a sassmouth, Cloud/Reno centric, Drinking, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Mutual wound licking, No Tifa disrespect in this house, Other, Slow Burn, Smoking, Two masochists walk into a bar and..., Unrequited Love, emotions are hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:01:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26148358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sevargs/pseuds/Sevargs
Summary: When Tifa and Rude gravitate toward each other, Cloud and Reno learn the hard lesson that problems really can’t be solved in the bottom of a whiskey glass.
Relationships: Reno/Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart/Rude
Comments: 71
Kudos: 121





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is 14 chapters long and completed, I am in the process of combing for errors.
> 
> This is not my first fic for FF7, but I will not share the unspeakable past. But even so, please be gentle with me. Your feed back helps me improve.
> 
> Dedicated to my wife, Raynalissesul, for being the guinea pig for months.

Liquor, misery or insanity—maybe a little of all three—but at least one of these served as the driving force behind why he ended his evening walking out of a public bathroom, bathed in a little shame, and straightening his clothes to pretend  _ that _ never happened. The liquor certainly lowered his inhibitions enough that he might only really care about what he’d just done, after he crashed and woke up to stew in it. 

He returned to the booth, where the drink he left remained untouched. Across from him, another unfinished drink and pack of cigarettes—lighter still sitting on top. Everything exactly as it had been left, before the chatty redhead across from him abandoned the table in favor of unfavorable behavior. He reached out to snatch up the pack and steal one out of it before that bastard made it back into his seat. Cloud hadn’t ever been a smoker, but he couldn’t think of a better occasion to say fuck it. 

He’d already said fuck it once already that night, after coming across an equally miserable looking Turk and humoring him with his presence. Reno actually invited him to sit with him and share in his woes—because evidently, his passive unhappiness could be “seen from space”, according to the drunk Turk. 

Yes, perhaps  _ unhappy _ served as a great description for being struck by the horrible recognition that his mistakes and failures caught up in an unexpected way. He waited too long and acted too little, and watching Tifa smile and hold hands with Rude at the bar made it a hell of a lot harder to pretend nothing bothered him. 

When Reno reached out and took a whole fistful of the back of his shirt and pulled him closer—slurring in a way that he couldn’t really tell if drunk or just Reno—he quickly connected some obvious dots that he was not the only one watching their happy display and hating every bit of it. 

“Hey bitch,” Reno drawled, one hand clutching a glass of whiskey like his life depended on it. “Have a sit sit. Join me, we can watch our dreams die together.”

At that moment, he only managed distaste for his choice of wording, and nothing else. The truth of his statement hadn’t been too far missing it’s mark, if he’d ever actually admit to what the sour feeling meant. He let his opportunities run through his fingers and even still, he’d have no idea what to do to fix his inaction even if he had been presented with a redo. He’d end up with her slipping out of his grasp again and by all means, she deserved someone more attentive. 

That did not mean that he hurt less in seeing the results, first hand. Reno clearly had some kind of similar issue turning him on to the fountain of alcohol. Rude meant enough of something to the tipsy Turk, if he had it in him to openly express his discontent. 

Maybe that had been what drew Cloud to actually take a seat. Something about seeing this man in the same state—maybe even worse for wear with his intake—filled in one lonely void. Misery loves company, so the saying went. 

“What’ya drink?” Reno asked and Cloud didn’t have an answer, really. So he gave the depressed man’s answer.

“The stronger the better.”

“So we’re a hard and fast kinda drunk, I can dig that, yo,” Reno tipped his glass in acknowledgment and made a gesture toward one of Tifa’s hired hands to top up a glass and help start Cloud down the path towards oblivion. 

Obvious downsides to mako drowning his bloodstream, included alcohol meaning so much less to him than the average person. Hard and fast probably wouldn’t happen. Watching Reno across the table from him, showing pink in the face with eyes struggling to focus, had him a little jealous. Of course, he knew better than to think the Turk really left his sensibilities; rather, playing up drunk in the same way he played up being stupid. But if he wanted it, he could be shit faced within the hour. Cloud had to work a little harder. Not that being trashed had any real appeal. Shutting off his brain did, however.

He wanted a distraction, and that’s why he sat down with Reno. Any other time, he wouldn’t spare him a glance. His outrageous personality rubbed him the wrong way at every  _ other _ occasion. Only when he’d dropped his face and showed a tired, miserable bastard of a person, did Cloud find him any bit appealing. 

Appealing enough, he guessed, when slurred words traveled across the table, just loud enough for him to hear, he found himself on the contemplating end of a response and not the knee jerk rejection. 

_ Yo, if I said I want you to fuck the noise out of my head, what would you say?  _ He’d asked, playing up the joke in his tone, but he was serious.

“Fuck it, why not,” he answered, taking amusement in the brief flicker of surprise in tired green eyes. 

That qualified as a distraction enough, and he really didn’t care about consequences at the time the topic crossed the table. He wasn’t drunk, but he’d just started to get his buzz and it felt like the right thing for him at that moment. 

What would he really know? He never did that sort of thing. But discreetly following after Reno didn’t even trigger a second thought; his chance to back out abandoned him completely about the time he turned the lock to the bathroom door. 

And sitting across from him after the fact, scrutinizing Reno’s hazy face like he was looking for remorse, he recognized a mirror reflection of apathy. So maybe he felt no shame after all, he mused, lighting the cigarette like he’d been a smoker all his life. He even did the courtesy of reaching out to light one for him too. 

“I gotta say, I didn’t know you had it in you, Strife,” Reno drawled a little, flicking the fading embers into a tray between them. 

He watched him, making direct eye contact through his entire thought process and the slow inhale of smoke—breathing it out in a slow stream. “ _ I  _ didn’t.” He countered, simply. 

A howl of laughter followed a slow blink, as the words took a minute to connect and Reno reached for his glass to sip when his laughter calmed down. “You’re such a bitch, it’s great.” Amusement dulled any real bite to any of Reno’s words. 

Cloud watched him smoke the whole cigarette down to the filter, soothed by the strange silence that fell between them. Neither of them had any real desire to talk about it and maybe that’s what made him sit with him until he finally dragged himself out of the bar. One person he knew wouldn’t make him spill his guts, or corner him when he clearly couldn’t function his scrambled emotions. 

He never did get drunk enough to crash, so he stewed in it immediately; but not in the way he expected. Trying to convince himself he made a terrible decision failed, several times, so he gave up and spent the rest of the night thinking about how he avoided Tifa, because he didn’t have it in him to face her after screwing Reno with her literally on the other side of the wall, in the same building. 

And then he realized he stole the asshole’s lighter and couldn’t focus his brain enough to decide if that was intentional or not. 

_ Guess, I could fuck around and give it back to him.  _

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

“So why do you keep coming here, if you know what you’re going to find?” 

Reno waved dismissively to his question, and managed to keep from looking off in the direction of Rude and Tifa. The strain of pretending that it didn’t bother him could be identified by the amount of cigarette butts he had already smashed into the ashtray. “Masochism, you know, I’m into that kinda shit apparently.” 

No questions really remained, as to why Reno had this morose air about him any time he sat in the bar and nursed whatever had the highest proof. He never had to actually say it, and Cloud never asked. The assumption came easily enough, from the way he’d occasionally send a thousand yard stare off into the direction of where his  _ best friend  _ interacted with Cloud’s own  _ best friend.  _ Lost opportunities moving on in the direction that, honestly, suited them both. 

Another cigarette butt smashed into the bottom of the tray, and that one came from Cloud. He didn’t care for it, didn’t really offer him much, but his hands kept busy. The smoky burn gave him something to detract from other ways he hurt. 

“And this is what you chose to entertain that quirk?” He just idly bummed another one from his pack, because he had no intention of taking up the habit full time enough to start buying cigarettes of his own. If Reno wanted his company, then he had a toll to pay for it. 

“Ah yeah, I love seeing my fuckin’ mistakes viciously rubbed into my face, really turns me on,” he leaned back and Cloud could identify which muscles he strained to keep his eyes off the source of his misery. He really had been putting himself through the wringer, just to prove he could function the same despite an important difference throwing off his whole life. Cloud understood with dumb clarity. Tifa smiled at Rude and he found he drank a little faster. 

He didn’t know the circumstances behind Rude and Reno, but he certainly knew his own failure. He hadn’t been there enough to offer Tifa even close to what she deserved. Hiding his emotions and thoughts—because they rarely made enough sense for him to place into real words—really did lead to his downfall. 

She shouldn’t be responsible for fixing his poor communication skills. It took him weeks to replace the phone he previously lost, if that spoke enough volumes about how little he chose to be available. Sure, some of the difficulty lifted when the geostigma began to clear, but his habits had been harder to break than he wanted to admit. That she’d sought company elsewhere, really couldn’t surprise him and he knew that Rude—despite meeting under the circumstances they had—offered more gentlemanly attention than he ever could. 

He could only really fathom to guess what various reasons lay behind the distance between the two Turks. Any number of things from Rude already interested in someone else, to Reno being the exact physical manifestation of everything Rude wasn’t into. Tifa offered soothing, upbeat companionship; with a huge heart, but the ability to put her foot down and be firm. Vocal, and open. Reno, he noted from several interactions with him already, had zero of these qualities; except perhaps vocal. He did run his mouth when he got started. But Reno had no softness to him, that he could identify. 

But really, his only interactions with the man involved fighting or fucking—a reoccurring behavior that should have made him cringe. Always after a few drinks, a half a pack between them. Acting like nothing happened after coming back from wherever they’d sneak off for a few minutes of distraction, then sliding right back in the booth and continuing on like no pause ever occurred. 

He brought him to the upstairs room that served as both his business office and where he slept. Smashing him against the tiny space of wall in the bathroom became a little too uncomfortable. They barely ever made it beyond the door anyway, nothing they did warranted taking any time and neither of them really wanted to give it room to feel like anything other than the sloppy hookup that it turned into. Reno always offered the idea, Cloud always offered the casual “fuck it”. 

They hadn’t made it that far into their ritual yet, the night that Reno had showed up in tow with Rude and admitted to his blatant self torture by standing by to witness affections being given to someone else. They both knew they were moving toward it, because the fresh wounds hadn’t healed yet and the nice haze left behind afterward did numb the sting. 

“Hey, bitch, so, you gonna give me your phone number or what?” Reno asked and Cloud gave him a quirk browed look over the rim of the glass he sipped from. “I mean, I could just get it myself outta someone, but that kinda takes the fun out of it.” 

“Interesting that you think I’d answer you,” Cloud set his drink back down, and flicked the embers off the cigarette he’d lit with Reno’s lighter. The one he still technically hadn’t given back, even though Reno heckled him about it each time. “I didn’t even answer her, after all.” His words offered a fresh dig at himself and he just sucked a deeper breath, full lungs of smoke to hold and burn for a moment. 

Reno laughed, like he always did when he found something Cloud said to be amusingly sharp for the type of person Reno must have thought he was. “Two masochists and not a sadist in sight to enjoy it, man, what a fuckin’ shame, yo.” 

“Maybe they’d realize it’s too pitiful to look at,” he shrugged, setting down the cigarette for a moment to dig his phone from his pocket. His new phone had a nice, clean, touch interface and he might hate it. He needed to remove a glove to use it most of the time, and when he’d let his drinks pile up, his fingers wobbled a little all over the screen. “What’s your number, quick before I realize I’m making another poor choice in my life.” 

Reno gave him a toothy smirk, breathing a smoky fog and calling out the numbers slowly. He either recognized his sluggish reactions, or his own mental processing had lowered enough that he had to sound each number out slowly. Cloud put those numbers into a fresh message, offering nothing more than [Its me] in the body before sending it on its way and listening for Reno’s phone to receive it. 

“Ah, it’s you indeed,” Reno flicked his high tech device—clearly courtesy of Shinra. He tapped at the screen, while the phone lay flat on the table and Cloud could see him inputting contact details. He nearly scoffed at him, picking the burning cigarette back up from the tray to finish. He saw his name being input as “Bitch” in Reno’s phone. Fine enough. 

[Wanna go mess around?] The message appeared after a moment, popping up on his phone under the contact name, freshly added: Asshole. 

Cloud didn’t answer him, he simply took one last drag and then drove the lit end down into the ashtray, to leave it behind when he stood. One last sip of amber liquid from his glass and he turned away from the booth and left the invitation to follow him hang in the air. 

He could do with a little less stewing in thoughts that served only to make him feel worse. He heard the Turk sliding out of the booth after him and knew he wasn’t alone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter lengths were inconsistent as I wrote this, my bad. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Having Cloud’s number served to be a dangerous power; a new found ability to hassle the blond at all hours. If Cloud were a slightly smarter man, he’d have given him a throw away number or blocked him preemptively. But his messages slipped right on through, earning the occasional response when Cloud remembered he had the device at all. Reno half suspected that he wouldn’t notice his phone if it didn’t have messages being pushed to it every time Reno decided he needed a distraction from someone he didn’t work with. Boxing with Rude didn’t have the same effect anymore. When all his thoughts turned into Rude with her, he found he didn’t quite measure up to his usual skill level. 

Maybe slugging the shit out of him would make him feel better, but a nagging thing in the back of his mind told him that he’d just make it painfully apparent just how miserable the whole damn thing made him. 

He never actually expected to have what he wanted out of that fantasy, but damn it, he didn’t think it would feel like being taken out back and whipped bloody to see the fantasy completely crushed.

The last message he received from his equal in despair read like a familiar bullet to the head. [Escaping Edge, on a delivery to Junon.] 

Cloud had no chill whatsoever in his messages. His words were to the point, often fragments of sentences. Just enough to get his point across and Reno wondered if he was just that way, or if coping with a nightmare made him less vocal in general. He supposed this couldn’t be even close to nightmares he’d dealt with before, but  _ those _ nightmares didn’t lead to dispassionately fucking the enemy. Or were they enemies anymore? Maybe not so much him, so much as Cloud just really didn’t feel any love for Rufus, and, well, Reno worked for Rufus. 

Sometimes his thoughts drug him back to the very first incident in the bar, where he had blurted the first thought that passed through his mind and almost immediately followed it up with  _ just kidding _ . Then the blond bastard surprised him and went right along with it. 

And then continued to do so. Man, they must both be pretty fuckin’ gone to resort to licking each other’s wounds, while watching their important people play the lover’s tango in front of them. 

[When are you comin’ back?] He sent, sitting in the middle of a meeting where he was determined to tune Tseng out for his need to repeat things several times. He probably repeated himself so much to make sure that Reno actually heard him. He did hear him. He heard him every time he said it and he had half a mind to snap  _ yes, boss, I got it _ . But not earning Tseng’s ire always beat out that urge. 

[Tomorrow.] No fluff, just strictly answer. 

[Don’t text while you’re driving, Bitchface, that’s dangerous.] He sent back, not really having any clue what he had been doing at the time of pressing send. It was nothing more than an attempt to get a rise out of him. 

He hadn’t expected an incoming photo message, and definitely didn’t expect the middle finger that splashed across his screen upon tapping his friendly nickname. Cloud could not have taken the picture without both hands, and the extreme blurriness of the background gave him strong indications that he had taken the picture in motion. Studying the edge of the image, under Cloud’s wrist, he identified what he knew to be controls of his precious motorcycle. Motherfucker was showing off. 

[How reckless of you. Think of lives you’re putting in danger.] An approximate count of zero people were likely to be sharing the road that Cloud probably blazed down at insane speeds. 

[What are you going to do, arrest me?] 

He could somehow  _ hear _ the snide edge, even though Cloud very rarely spoke with much tone. That spot of sass  _ did _ exist in him and Reno really had to work to keep his amusement from reflecting on his face. If Tseng got wind he chose to engage in silly text banter over participating in his meeting, he might actually take his phone from him. Then he’d have to explain who “Bitch” was. Not an ideal circumstance. Instead, he leaned against his half closed fist, elbow propped up on the table. 

[I think I could find a pair of handcuffs. If that’s what you’re into.] He just couldn’t help himself. 

For the second time, Cloud took him by surprise; with a follow up image to the last. And he most certainly was showing off, if the composition of the image had anything to say. Normally, Reno would laugh at the cheap camgirl angle, but it had a purpose—to show him that Cloud was standing on his goddamn bike and still blazing down the road. Reno could see him from his face to one blurry foot in the out of focus zone. His expression barely skirted out of his usual passiveness, but the faint raised brow and smirk told volumes. 

[I hope you’re alone on that fuckin road, lmao.]

[I have been for about 3 hours.]

[So when you’re alone you just do tricks for jollies?] 

[Breaks up the monotony.]

Reno almost snickered, catching himself after a moment and tuning in to Tseng long enough to maintain his image and keep up with the information. Only when it suited him, did he have a remarkable ability to multitask his attention. Imagining Cloud out there in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, bored enough to start doing tricks on his motorcycle at speeds that could kill him if he crashed…? Funny as hell. 

[You should show me some of these tricks sometime. Bet it’s even more ridiculous in person.]

He placed his phone down for a moment to listen to Tseng giving them their orders, finally. When he had a job given to him, he could normally focus on it without any problems. Being sent to where the hell ever, didn’t bother him any...usually. Regardless of his personal hang ups and the events going on around him, he still would always be assigned with Rude. They simply worked best together, and their efficiency made that an unchanging result. Rude meant the whole damn world to him but…

Something about being stuck with him for several weeks alone, made the room feel a shitload smaller. 

[I can even teach you if you want to look stupid too.] 

[Well, admittance is the first step.] He allowed Cloud to distract him from the briefing that determined he would be shipping out to Fort Condor in a few days. Just he and Rude. Lovely. [But you know, sounds like a better time than going to Fort Condor with you know who.]

[When?]

[In a couple days.]

[Ok I’m sure I’ll catch you before then.]

He didn’t answer, choosing to tune back in to the things he should be hearing, and letting Cloud actually drive like a responsible adult. He would have preferred to continue his back and forth with what everyone claimed to be the world’s most disconnected man. He didn’t see that, but maybe it was slightly different because he was fucking the guy on semi-regular basis.  _ What a pair of pathetic shits _ , he mused to himself. 

And yet, he still forwarded his apartment address to the  _ world’s hero _ , knowing he’d find him showing up at some point after he returned from his drive. He hadn’t kept interacting with Reno for the fuck of it, or maybe  _ literally _ he had. They both had just oodles of issues to work out, clearly, and approximately no hesitance to do so  _ naked _ . 

Cloud surprised him, he really did; but he didn’t have any complaints about it. Not one. Well, maybe just one.

He still wasn’t Rude. 

But until the pain of that failure went away, he’d suffice. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I’m uploading too fast, let me know. I know some people need spacing. I’m almost done with my proofing of the remaining chapters.


	4. Chapter 4

Reno lounged in the reclining chair, feet up and one hand behind his head to offer support. Everything about the mission had become something just shy of a total nightmare. A few weeks turned into nearly a month, with suspicions of being out there even longer. He hated the place a little bit, but more so, hated being stuck with his own thoughts due to his usual partner in crime putting him slightly at odds with himself. Act normal, and Rude wouldn’t catch on that he wanted to throw himself out of a helicopter at first chance. Unfortunately, Reno never had a real  _ normal _ to begin with and he did work most effectively with Rude. 

Main reason for being alive enough to sit back miserably and listen to the phone spewing Tseng’s words from across the continent. 

“It will be some time before we can get the materia shipped out to you, so if you’ll hold tight and stay where you are, you should be fine.” Tseng, more or less, meant for Reno to not move from his spot and wait for further instructions. Rude still had plenty of work he could functionally do and maybe that served Reno’s sanity better—if they split up for a while. Choice or no choice. “Rufus is trying to make contact with Cloud Strife to see if he’ll be willing to make that deliver—.”

He didn’t mean to cut him off so sharply, but his barked laugh couldn’t help itself. Rufus may very well be the last person on the planet that Cloud would deliver anything for. “We’ll be waiting a long ass time, then, boss. He won’t do it for Rufus. Probably has every number he knows Rufus could reach him from blocked ten times over.”

“Then you will just have to hold still and wait. Our helicopters are in repair, and fuel is also being routed.”

“I’ll twist Strife’s arm if you tell Rufus to back off,” he offered, earning an interesting look from Rude, sitting across from him; one brow arching just over the rim of his dark sunglasses. 

“You’re welcome to try, if you can get him to answer you.”

“He’ll answer me, yo,” he said idly, picking the phone up with the hand he’d had cradling his head. He didn’t even wait for Tseng to hang up before he opened a message to send out to Cloud. “Send me the coordinates for the pick up and I’ll work my magic. None of you guys know how to sweet talk for shit, yo.”

The moment of silence made him almost wonder if he’d accidentally hung up on his boss; but his concern died when he started speaking again. “Inform me when you finish negotiations then. Rufus will cover the costs at the pickup.”

“Yo, tell him to send pizza while he’s at it. The food here sucks.”

“Goodbye, Reno.” A short beep, and then silence followed. 

“...I don’t think that was an unfair request.” He frowned a little, making a face at the phone while he finished writing out his opening message. [Yo bitchface, got a minute?]

“You think he’s really going to answer you?” Rude asked during the wait, and Reno didn’t spare him a glance. He tried to maintain his usually passive, laid-back personality with Rude for the duration of their mission; but he found it hard not to let his thoughts wander to  _ her _ and him. Together. Being a thing. 

_ I’m a jealous douche bag and this is cursed.  _ He nearly grimaced, but managed to smooth out his response to his own thoughts, before it presented on his face. Fortunately, Cloud offered a distraction in his reply, at the right time.  _ That _ did earn an audible huff out of him, however.

[No. I refuse.]

[You didn’t even let me ask.] He tapped back, sending the message and hoping Cloud could hear his voice in his head, emphasizing his disgruntlement at being dismissed immediately. 

[Rufus already tried and I’ve ignored him. I’m not doing shit for Shinra.]

Fair enough. Shinra did him and his friends dirty, but that didn’t change that they—of the company not under Rufus’ father’s reign—needed a service he offered, if they wanted to not be stuck in a several week waiting game. [What if I asked for me and just had Rufus pay you?]

[I won’t be Shinra’s bitchboy.]

[Fine, be my bitchboy then. You didn’t even ask what we need. Healing materia, baby. It’s not bad.]

[And you can’t come?]

[Oh I have no problem with that ;) ]

[Youre appallling.]

[Nice typos, snap me a pic of your face. I wanna see them pink cheeks.]

[Fck off.]

Reno tried not to laugh, because he could nearly hear the grunt in his tone for it. He really shouldn’t be throwing sass at the man he meant to sway into helping them, Cloud just made it too easy. But he did have a goal and decided to gently backtrack and get right on to begging like a good boy. [I’m being forced to my station, something something safety first or some shit. I’ll make it worth the trip.]

The long wait for a response made him almost think he’d actually angered him enough to stop responding. But he finally did get a reaction in the form of a call—his phone suddenly ringing in his hand. He answered it quickly. 

“Off speakerphone,” Cloud spoke immediately, before he could get a word in. Somehow, this man spoke less out loud than he did over text and Reno always found that wildly amusing. No wonder he seemed like a ghost to his friends, sometimes. Everything about him held distance, even if he claimed he’d been working on that. Reno learned quickly that calling Cloud may as well be forfeiting contact, because he didn’t talk if he didn’t have to. He answered much more consistently to a text message. 

“You’re already off speaker, thanks for the call, handsome,” when he played it up to his usual fluff, Rude really couldn’t be surprised by him. If anything, his quiet partner appeared more intrigued that  _ he _ managed to get Cloud Strife to call  _ him _ . 

“I’ll give you thirty seconds to explain and convince me.”

“Wow, Strife, you just wanna hear me beg with your own ears, huh?” He teased, but immediately received clapback from Cloud that he hadn’t expected. Enough to make him laugh a little, but not too much because Rude didn’t need to think about things that he didn’t want him to.

“Yeah. So start begging.”

He cradled the phone on his shoulder and shifted in the reclined chair. “Okay, well we’re out here in Fort Condor, right, because you-know-who wanted us to come see what’s up with rumors about some shady fuckers stripping the shit out of the reactor since it’s easier to get into now and well, that shit’s still toxic and dangerous and whatever, but long story short, oh baby they were definitely in there and threw a few healthy bombs out into us. We got in there and rounded them all up and sealed that bitch shut but some of us don’t take bombs well, y’know?”

Silence followed so Cloud could process, because Reno stuffed as much information into his one breath as he could manage—he really did think Cloud would cut him off if he didn’t have a compelling enough argument in those thirty seconds. They weren’t exactly best friends, so if he wanted his help, he did have to play by his rules a little bit.

“How injured are you?”

Reno blinked, briefly glancing down to his wrapped leg and the splint on his left arm. “I’ve definitely been better, yo. Just enough I can’t make that trip myself according to the bossman.”

Another healthy bout of silence and Reno had to wonder if Cloud would be willing to overlook Rufus being involved to help him. He didn’t dare think he’d get any bonus for being the guy he occasionally hooked up with out of personal despair. Maybe he had been wrong, or maybe Cloud just felt generous that day. 

“Tell Rufus, double his original offer. And I’ll do it.” He dropped his voice a little to continue, “but  _ you  _ owe me personally, now.”

He had to work very hard to keep his expression smooth, so Rude wouldn’t wonder what he heard from Cloud’s end. Good thing he hadn’t put him on speaker. “We’ll take care of you when you get here, don’t worry. That’s a long trip, yo.” He implied things and Cloud understood those things. Guess they both still needed to work on terrible coping skills.

“Send me information. I’ll keep in touch.” A beep and dead air immediately followed. Why did people love hanging up on him?

“He going to do it?” Rude leaned forward a little, maybe curious, maybe confused. Reno had been confused by Cloud Strife for a while already; Rude was welcome to join the party.

“Yeah. I gotta get back with Tseng and then I can send him to the pick up. Rufus better be willing to double down.”

“What exactly did you do to sway him?” 

_ I’m going to fuck him in whatever room he stays in when he’s here and he knows it.  _ “Trade secret, yo. If I tell everyone how to sweet talk Cloud, it won’t be special.” Though, he knew he could probably just have asked Rude to go through Tifa and strong arm him. But that would leave a sour taste in his mouth putting Cloud through that. He knew how he felt being stuck alone with Rude, if Cloud was asked to do something by Tifa on Rude’s behalf… 

He did frown a little, thinking about how messed up this whole shit made him feel. “It’s all good anyway, he’s coming, so now we just sit back and relax.”

Relax. Right. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to go back and rename the chapters. It’s throwing me off.


	5. Chapter 5

Reno had never been an office work kind of person, and generally speaking, no one ever actually did any work in the office—sans maybe reporting in after a mission; but even hanging around to socialize had begun to prickle him a little bit. In all honesty, he wanted to crawl back to his apartment and die right there on his bed. Those weeks in Condor did nothing for his sanity and worse off, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Rude had been watching him a little closer than before. 

Maybe—hopefully?—Rude hadn’t noticed how obviously screwy he’d been the entire time. Nearly getting his leg blasted off only offered the briefest excuse to act out of order and not be immediately called out for it. Rude’s observational skills were usually a benefit, but he didn’t appreciate the hawkeyed attention when he felt like drinking an entire bottle of whiskey and running the hell away.

Cloud showing up after some days with his delivery, had been the most severe kind of double edge sword. On the one hand, he got healed up enough to be functional  _ and  _ got to play around with the delivery boy when Rude stepped out to be responsible and do his job. On the  _ other _ hand, Rude never overlooked small changes and the unusually peaceful interactions he had with Cloud, probably looked questionable to him. 

_ No, don’t look too hard, partner. You really don’t need to know what goes on when I run into bitchboy in my free time. _

None of his outside work activities were any of his business anyway; though his sudden closed off behavior probably raised more alarms than silenced. Reno never hesitated to disclose his free time to Rude before, nor had he made pointed efforts to avoid him. Unrequited interest in someone changes shit, when that person of interest  _ moves to someone else. _ In order to explain that to Rude, he’d have to  _ tell _ him what that meant.

Over his dead body. He’d rather continue misery fucking his fellow sufferer until it got boring. Maybe by the time they were done doing whatever the hell they thought they were doing, they’d both move on and laugh it off. Maybe he’d be able to walk away with just bragging rights that he nailed the blond hero and Tifa didn’t.  _ Just be a miserable slut, Tifa, worked for me. _

A knock on his door took him out of his silent reverie, and he quickly noted that he had been staring down into an empty coffee mug for who knew how long. He changed direction and glanced up, finding exactly who he expected to find, based on familiarity of that knock. 

“S’up partner,” he mumbled, knowing his usually spirited mannerisms took a dive long before he stepped into the room.

Rude watched him for a brief moment, looking into him and Reno could feel the weight of his searching. He knew something settled wrong with Reno somewhere, but neither of them would speak directly. Rude wouldn’t ask unless he thought he needed to be concerned over something serious. Personal matters weren’t in that category, and Reno shrugged away every nonchalant attempt to ask if he was actually okay. He’d just answer that, sure, his injuries healed up pretty well.

Never mind the injuries to the emotions he never acknowledged. Those? Swept right up under the rug.

“You coming with us?” Simple question. Rude wasted no breaths he didn’t have to, but Reno already knew where they—he and Elena—were going and he wanted nothing to do with it for a while. 

_ No, partner, I don’t want to watch you flirt with her for the rest of the night.  _

“Nah, think I’m gonna go home and just sleep for a solid twenty-four, yo.” After a large alcoholic intake, probably. “Still a little beat, but tell your girl I said hi.” He could have bit his tongue out for how uncomfortably  _ casual _ he managed to speak words he never wanted to even think, let alone say. 

He didn’t even have anything against Tifa, personally. Previous work shit aside, he never wrapped personal feelings into a job—except maybe hilariously being salty about Cloud kicking his ass that first time. Who had the last laugh in the end, though?  _ He _ got the mopey bastard in bed with him. 

“If you’re sure...take it easy then.” Rude clearly wanted to say something else, but let it die before he could actually surface the words. Good. Before long, Reno would fix the sore loser bullshit he had holding him down, and move on like nothing happened. Based on his own feelings at that moment, watching him nod and step back out…? That could be a while. 

Once Rude left, he went back to staring at his empty cup for a little longer, before he managed to find the motivation to get up and leave. He had half a mind to run after them and go with them anyway, at least then he could find the usual corner to sit in and be miserable with Cloud. At least he didn’t live with Rude, unlike Cloud who stayed in the room above the bar and probably never went a day without his perpetual love interest in his sight. Probably why he suddenly had a lot more delivery work. 

If he could escape working with Rude for a bit, maybe he’d sort his shit out.

Instead, he retreated in his off time. Weak, but maybe he really would just say fuck it, and sleep an ungodly amount of hours. He didn’t even bother to pick up the mess on the desk and he grabbed his personal effects and made his way out. Upside to their new location came in being close enough to walk home and not have to battle any public transport. That had largely contributed to why he’d just slept in the office more often than not, when they still worked from the Shinra tower.

Home was a small apartment that he got because he liked the location being close to what shops had sprung up since the world flipped itself over. Just because they all worked so closely together, didn’t mean they had to live together, and Reno thanked his lucky stars for that decision after all. If he had shared an apartment with Rude, he might have just jumped out of a helicopter before long. 

Instead, he had a hiding place; where he could throw his things down and then collapse face down into his bed. The only other person who’d been in his bedroom, aside from him, had been Cloud. Sometimes, sneaking around almost in public didn’t really lend well to keeping their what-ever-it-was on the downlow. He invited him over to stay the night that first time, because knowing that Rude was taking Tifa on a date almost sent him into a despair face dive. If he felt like drinking drain cleaner, then he could make a bet that Cloud—and his internal mourning of the loss of his crush—also felt like a great big sack of shit. 

Correct!

Reno had to admit he had become a jealous bastard and he hated that so much. 

Closing his eyes, he pressed his face into the pillow. He didn’t speak any lies, he was exhausted. Putting up his fake front would take so much effort that he couldn’t be bothered to try. Rude didn’t need to know that, though. He didn’t have to explain himself, but giving excuses came out easily. 

At some point, he knew he teetered close to falling asleep, but when he actually  _ had _ would be a mystery forever. He did know, however, exactly when he woke up—not entirely by his own body’s control, but rather in response to the buzz from the phone he left too close to his head. Immediately, swore and wished he hadn’t left it in any place he could hear it; fumbling to grab it and see who the hell disturbed his precious sleep. 

Cloud, apparently, and that did manage to rouse him out of his haze. Not that he valued this numb nugget’s conversation more than anyone else’s. They just had certain things in common. Sucky things.

[I can’t believe you abandoned me to this alone]

Reno blinked at the phone, brow arching with something like amusement and question. He rolled over to get his bearings and form a response that didn’t make it obvious he had just been in the land of sleep.

[Hey, bitch. Now what did I abandon you to?] Autocorrect saved half of his words and he could see an immediate response being put together, based on the little dots running in the bottom of his message screen. 

[Your friends.] Cloud answered, and he prepared to respond, but the picture came through faster than he could put his thumbs on the screen. 

Cloud took terrible selfies, but Reno had to admit the one he sent had a really nice clarity to it. Reno could  _ feel  _ his disdain. Mouth pressed into a straight line, brows turned together and half lidded eyes giving a nice image of his feelings about what took place in the  _ background.  _ The space right next to Cloud’s head just perfectly captured Tifa and Rude; Reno wanted to gag a little because he could...clearly see Rude holding her hand and her looking at him with some kind of bashful face on. 

[How could you] 

He winced a little, because he’d probably be two entire  _ bottles _ deep if he had to weather that sappy shit with no one to mutual despair with. 

[Yo. Answer your phone in a sec.]

[????]

He thumbed through the menu to open the call screen with the miserable bastard’s number in it, putting it on speaker so he could continue to wallow on his bed. It rang twice, going out to Cloud, before the line picked up. 

Before Cloud could even  _ speak _ Reno took the breath first. “S’cuse me Mr. Strife, you do deliver at fuck-off o’clock?” If he  _ gave _ Cloud a sound reason to leave, no one would be asking any questions. 

“Delivery? At this hour?” The tone of his voice indicated he planned to play along. This sneaking around their friends’ backs did have some allure of danger to it. If they got caught, they’d have things to explain and neither wanted to deal with that, in addition to wondering how their friends would respond to their messing around. Not like it  _ meant _ anything.

“Yeah, see, I’m just extra fuckin’ lazy and if you’d stop by and grab a big ass pizza and then deliver your ass to my door, that’d be great.”

“Hmm. It’s gonna cost you at this time of night.” He could already hear Tifa’s voice faintly in the distance; seemingly asking if he really had someone wanting a delivery so late.  _ Yes, ma’am, someone wants front door service. _

“What if I said I’d share pizza, half a case of beer, and my bed?”

“That’s a hard deal to pass up.”

“Then don’t pass it up, get on the big sexy bike and come be a miserable motherfucker with me.”

“All right. Give me some time to gather what you’re asking for and I will have it delivered soon.” He sounded so business formal and it was so cute. He could act a pretty convincing phone lie. 

“I’ll be waiting, let yourself in.”

He said it before he really considered that he trusted Cloud enough to just come into his goddamn apartment without knocking first. He’d have to get up and unlock the door and having to do that when he still felt groggy, really made him consider giving Cloud a key. He valued his laziness 

[What you want on it?]

Took Reno longer than he liked to put together he meant pizza toppings, mainly because he didn’t actually think the cheeky fucker planned to actually deliver him a pizza. He would not look that gift horse in the mouth. 

[Everything but the dead fish, my guy.]

[Extra dead fish, got it.]

He laughed even as he replied, [Youre a bitch.]

Cloud did not respond any further, giving Reno a chance to relocate from his bed to his couch—unlocking the door—to wait for him to show up. He thumbed around through the TV stations to find a mindless show to put on and pass the time, and Cloud showed up somewhere halfway into the fresh episode of the series he stopped on. Pizza in hand.

Reno patted the spot next to him on the couch, drinks already in place and TV mindlessly filling the silence with bland entertainment for them. 

That had been the first time they’d met up and didn’t actually do a single sex related thing—instead, falling sleep on the couch to some dumb ass documentary about birds. Cloud was warm to lean into, and the alcohol helped with making sleep easier. He didn’t entirely mind the vice grip of the arm around him either. 

Falling asleep on the couch definitely had a whole hell of a lot more appeal than being in Tifa’s bar; Cloud clearly agreed, breathing softly against his neck. 

Kinda felt nice, actually, not that he’d admit it out loud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a great big idiot who had no idea I posted this to one date and acting like it’s not updating. Lmao. I can’t be trusted with anything. Not even myself.


	6. Chapter 6

“When are you gonna start buying your own, bitchface,” Reno teased, lightly tapping the butt of the pack to slide a cigarette out to Cloud. Cloud hadn’t really intended to keep doing this social smoking business, but sitting with Reno made it a little too easy and offered him something to keep himself distracted. 

“Tifa already hates that I do it recreationally with you. She finds me buying my own supply and I’ll have hell to catch.” He offered an explanation, recalling Tifa grilling him on why he always smelled like an ashtray after sitting with Reno, when the Turks showed up. If she planned to interrogate him about something, he wouldn’t argue with her asking about  _ that _ and not  _ the other thing _ . She didn’t know about  _ the other thing _ , and he aimed to keep it that way. 

“Man, she still got you whipped, huh?” Reno tipped back his glass to take another mouthful of amber liquid, swirling what remained around the inside edge of the rim. 

Reno’s lighter flicked in Cloud’s hand while he puffed through the filter to deepen the burn of the glowing end—ensuring it was properly lit. He never did give Reno his lighter back, so he brazenly slid it right back in his pocket. The mouthy redhead had gotten a new one when he realized Cloud had claimed his original one with no remorse. What would he do? Fight him for it? Only if he wanted an ass kicking. 

“Shut up, I just respect her feelings. It’s not like she’s in the wrong. This is a shit habit you’ve got.”

“I’ve got? Bitch, here’s another for when you’re done with that one, so we can talk about  _ my  _ habit,” he laughed and really did tap out another one for him to take. He did take it, but not to prove Reno’s point. “She hasn’t kicked me out, and it’s obvious as fuck I’m your supplier, yo. Who’re you answering to, man?”

“She did tell me to watch out for people like you,” he blew his first mouthful of smoke just off to the side of their conversation space. “And I definitely didn’t listen, now did I?”

“Really are cursed, aren’t you,” Reno flicked and then rested his arm on the tabletop, toying with the cigarette’s filter with his thumb. 

“Clearly.”

“Y’know, maybe if you didn’t  _ live _ here, yo, you’d find time to man the hell up and do what you want a little more.” 

Cloud took note of the airy way Reno spoke the words, and the slight sloshiness that came with being a few drinks in. Reno, despite all of his flippancy, guarded himself surprisingly well. Cloud couldn’t tell if annoyance caused his tone, because of how much he relented to Tifa’s concerns; or if he genuinely meant for the better of him. Tifa meant things to him still, and letting go of that...was a hard habit. Much harder than his so-called fresh new smoking habit. For that, he blamed Reno. 

“It’s a great office space and I don’t really need more than a bed. Renting an apartment feels like a fool’s errand.” Not a lie. He wouldn’t be in an apartment for long enough at any time to make it worth the effort, just to get away from the dark cloud hanging over him. 

“Bitch please,” Reno then lowered his voice to keep it within the boundary of the table, “you spend every other damn night at my apartment.”

“Think you know why,” Cloud gave him a dead stare, and waved it off. “Don’t think being alone in a whole apartment is going to help me any damn bit.

“Tell me about it.” A slow stream of smoke left Reno’s mouth and he stared off into nothing particular. “Bein’ alone does suck,” he brought the filter to his lips and sucked another breath of smoke. “Loud music doesn’t drown out thoughts either, yo. I tried that already.”

“You’re really doing a fantastic job convincing me that I should get my own place.” His almost forgotten drink suddenly became a real focal point in front of him and he raised the glass to take a little more than just a sip.

Reno’s laughter made him look up. It bubbled just under a real laugh and just above a chuckle. He shook his head the whole time, following his lead in consumption—only drinking much more and faster. “You’re so damn slow on the uptake, Strife.”

A grunt left him and Cloud frowned in his direction, not sure if he could even really see his face anymore. “Or maybe you’re so consistently running garbage out of your mouth, that I tune out your nuance.”

“Stupid bitch,” Reno sighed into the glass before he set it down. “Really gonna make me say it… that’s some kinda bullshit…”

“Maybe I will.” Short, tinged with a little bit of smart ass. At the point of Reno’s exasperation, he began to  _ think _ he put together what the intention of the topic turned toward. However, he didn’t plan to make an assumption without making the noisy redhead spell it out distinctly. 

Noisy redhead appeared to catch on to that and stamped his cigarette out with a little more force than he usually did. The filter bent, splitting in the tray and Cloud almost gave in and acknowledged his underlying meaning. But Reno’s small snarl and the downturned tilt of his lips into a pout convinced him to wait for him to speak—just knowing he’d be disgruntled the whole time. 

“Look, fucknut, just...you’re already taking up space in my apartment often enough that...if you brought some of your shit and left it, that’d be fine.” He already had another cigarette shoved into his mouth and flicked the flame to light it. “I ain’t gonna be offended having another body chillin’ at my place.” 

“Yeah?” Cloud glanced at him, then turned his gaze off to the bar; toward where his first infatuation smiled at everyone but him. Tifa always had a smile to offer him, of course, but the smile she gave him didn’t have the same life. Her smile at him had a sadness that maybe he really did need to escape from for a while. Reno offered some sanctuary—a place he didn’t have to always remember that he failed to open up enough to keep what he’d always hoped he’d have. “Diet of cigarettes, pizza, and cheap liquor does sound appealing.”

“Fuck you, Mr. Strife, I also keep cheap instant noodles on hand, and order hot wings when I hate myself extra hard and wanna puke fire for all the alcohol that goes with it.”

“You really just want someone to get shitfaced and pass out drunk with,” Cloud mused, down to the last puff of the first cigarette. 

“If you would be so kind,” he held his lighter out, flame lit and open for him to keep his chain smoking going for the night. What a bad damn thing he started, he thought. Despite that, he held out the fresh one at the same time he smashed out the old one. “Then you can blacken your lungs to your heart’s content. Be a cool kid, Cloud.”

“This sounds suspiciously like peer pressure.”

“I’m not your peer, yo,” Reno offered with an amused curl to his lip, voice dropping another decibel. “I’m just the guy you get drunk with and fuck for funsies. At least you can get drunk and fuck with me in a place you have your shit at. Just sayin.”

“I’ll think about it,” he paused to place the filter between his lips and draw his breath through it. It offered a distraction enough that he didn’t have to immediately answer and Reno didn’t press him. Maybe smoking with Reno turned out to be a terrible mistake, if he considered it a viable method to keep himself occupied while thinking. Because he did more thinking than he wanted and if he smoked to keep up with it, he’d never have his hands free again. 

Reno resulted in a bad habit, but he hadn’t ever made it to the point of partaking in the habit in man’s absence. Living with him, definitely risked increasing his nicotine consumption. But maybe the reason he started at all stood behind the counter and smiled at customers coming in. Smiled at Rude, who came to see her so often. If he didn’t have to witness this same scene multiple times a week, shit, maybe he could come to terms with where he went wrong. 

Or maybe, the tempting prospect of moving in with Reno came with avoiding this whole messed up routine, where he’d end up sneaking out with him anyway. Skip right to the part with them crashing somewhere in his flat—be it couch, bed, or that one time they woke up on the floor. 

Watching Reno, fiddling with the ashtray and rolling the embers off the end of the cigarette, Cloud had to ask himself, what part of this whole exchange actually turned out to be the bad habit. 

The smoking? The drinking?

Or Reno…?

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone reading this! I got my head wrapping around a new fic idea now 🤔 this was fun.
> 
> Next chapter is really a go between from  
> 6 and 7 and does have a little more sexual content, I will warn before hand, but it’s not entirely required reading if it’s not your thing.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is more like an interlude between the last one and the next, and it does have a little more sexual content in it. If you’re not here for that, then wait for the next chapter, I wrote it so I can be excluded from the main fic.

“What the fuck...is your refractory period, y...yo,” Reno huffed, face warm and eyes half glazed over. The blond arched over him and settled flush between his thighs; had trapped him into the cushions of his couch—showing off his apparently unlimited stamina. That had hardly been a complaint, but he knew at  _ least _ two hours had already passed since he encouraged Cloud to have his way with him right there in their shared living room.

One of the best parts of Cloud mostly living with him, easily came down no longer being in a hurry anymore. He knew he could fall asleep on the couch and he wouldn’t wake up with a cold empty spot beside him. In fact, more than likely, he could roll over to reach for him and let him make a place nice and warm between his thighs. Take all morning if he wanted; quite goddamn literally, actually.

With his legs wrapped around his waist, he gave Cloud a fine impression he could be there for as long as he wanted. He had just forgotten just how much energy he could expend. Something about those SOLDIER experiments turned men into engines of destruction, and demons in the sack.

“Guess it’s all the mako,” Cloud huffed close, making him shiver a little again. Put through the wringer several times already, and Reno still found himself reacting like a horny teenager at the sound of his voice whispering breathily into his ear.

“How the fuck you still have it in you…” he inhaled deeply, his heart rate finally getting a chance to drop back closer to normal. 

“ _ I _ don’t.” The smart ass reply almost earned the glowy-eyed little bastard a cuff upside the head; only saved from such assault because Cloud dug his fingers into his hips and pulled him tighter to him. Just when he didn’t think the blond bastard could fuck himself any deeper into him, he proved otherwise and Reno let out a dragged out groan. 

His heels dug into the base of his spine, holding him in place for a moment. The warmth of his body gave him a different kind of pleasure than he’d experienced with others. Not that he’d never slept with a SOLDIER before, but none of them ever really had the same dedication to fuck him completely out before. Cloud would dick him down until Reno fell asleep through the tail end of it. The first time he experienced that, he honestly thought he could die and feel okay with it. 

Now, he could identify that look in his eyes that broadcast what he planned to do, and like a thirsty bastard, he spread his thighs and all but begged for him to waste a whole day burying himself in him and blowing his back out. The most difficult thing he’d have to do in the immediate future, would be functioning at work without making it obvious just how laid he got. 

Reno had never been the sort to make a habit out of one person—but Cloud offered him one thing cycling through faceless bastards couldn’t: dignity. Not that he’d ever say it to the blond bitchface himself, but despite them both acting like they threw all shame out the first goddamn window they could find, he could at least look at him in the face when they woke up after. Hell, he could trust actually sleeping with him. No awkward shuffle, or someone grabbing for their clothes to duck out before eye contact happened.

His BitchFace with benefits was blissfully low maintenance. 

A short, physical pause between them, brought Reno back from his thought process—though still feeling a little glazed. He dug his fingers into the back of his shoulders and shifted, comfortable being trapped in place.

“I smell something burning, so what are you thinking about?” Cloud commented, with his voice low but mouth close to his ear. Reno dug his heel into his hip for his remark. 

He could answer with any number of things, but none of them made it through the mental quality check, and he’d never let himself live if he didn’t take his own shot at the man grinding him into his couch. Shit, Cloud could have him on his hand and knees, and Reno would still look over his shoulder and tell him to suck it. 

“Hm? Ah, yeah, I was just...y’know, wondering when you’re gonna get  _ serious _ here. I can still feel my legs, bitch, so y’know,” he started, but never got to finish the train of thought for the sharp pivot of hips that shot a whole new flood of sensation back through him. His toes curled and he bit his lip to keep his words in. How pitiful if he started exhaling “oh fucks” and “please more” immediately after talking shit.

“That’s okay,” Cloud breathed in his ear, making him shiver a bit, “I’ve got all day. I’ll make you call out of work tomorrow.”

Oh fuck indeed.

  
  
  



	8. Chapter 8

_ Move some of your shit _ , Reno said; but that inevitably turned into all of his shit. Not all at once, but before he knew it, he’d gone back to his office room at the bar and found he had nothing left to grab. Outside of furniture, he’d slowly stripped the room down to bare walls, a desk, and a bed he left made quite some time ago. 

Tifa asked about it, probably some fear that he’d do what he did last time and vanish for long periods of time before resurfacing. This time wouldn’t be like that time, however. He did run a delivery business, and he had a lot of connections to people they knew. He even answered his phone once people caught on that calling him didn’t work—he did much better with text messages. He just didn’t really tell anyone where he went. They all knew he stayed close enough to show up when needed, but he never gave an address. 

He never told Tifa why he found a new place or who he stayed with; possibly, she assumed he needed a space by himself and didn’t think it needed to be asked. He wondered if anyone would believe just how long the dance leading up to his new residence had gone on. Maybe they wouldn’t believe it at all. Everyone knew he didn’t care for Shinra; yet there he was, living with one of Rufus’ more favored employees. 

In living with Reno, he found a few things turning out differently than he originally thought. He drank less—Reno as well—and midnight despairing over past failures occurred significantly less frequently. The nicotine levels even came down, he noted, when he noticed the shared pack on the counter had lasted them  _ both _ nearly two weeks. 

Of course, they didn’t  _ eat _ any better than before; and there certainly wasn’t a surface in Reno’s apartment that he hadn’t laid him out on. Reno described them as a pair of frat boys left to their own devices. He had a difficult time arguing against that, when they ate pizza right out of the box because neither of them wanted to do the dishes, and walked around in nothing but boxers as soon as the door shut. They found themselves comfortable that way, though, and it didn’t matter if other people wouldn’t quite get it. 

She could scold him for his bad choices all she wanted, if she ever found out—she always meant the best for him—but he didn’t really...have to care anymore. And he realized this valuable little fact when she asked him to join her and Rude for a little get together. He felt nothing for the first time and found himself not making his usual excuses to duck out. Maybe it did help to find out after, that Rude had extended his invite to Reno. Something about that struck him as funny. 

Reno decided to go, and briefly, they debated on just showing up together for the hell of it.  _ No worries, Tifa, I’ve haven’t been alone for a long time now.  _ But neither of them actually wanted to contend with questions and showing up a few minutes apart from each other seemed the best way to play it out. 

He briefly fought the possibility that seeing her with Rude may reignite some bad feeling he had with himself, or that the years of emotions he had tied to her could come back. But stepping in and having her give him a warm hug for a greeting, reassured him that he might have made some ground. 

Hours of talking with a mouthy redhead, detangled some of the jumbled wires in his head. Long thoughts about Zack and Aerith really did some work in allowing him to forgive himself. And Reno actually opened up a time or two himself, divulging how he never could quite get dropping the plate out of his head enough to function like he had all his ducks in a row. 

But, of all the things that happened in their lives, the people they cared about moving on to more attentive prospects, hurt the most. Those happenings, however, turned out to be inevitable. Rude was better suited for Tifa. He could give her the attention she needed and lend the ear to hear all of what she had to say. He offered her stability that Cloud couldn’t. 

And he….? Worked better with Reno. Two wild messes that could sometimes go days barely speaking—between both their jobs and sometimes operating on wildly different hours. Then other times, spend entire nights laying half naked on each other with the TV on, and a pizza box open at the foot of the bed.

If he ever saw his mom again in the afterlife or whatever ended up being, he’d have to apologize for not finding a nice girl to keep a tight rein on him and make sure he stayed out of trouble. Instead, he found a thirty year old dumbass he spiraled downhill with then just decided to keep for god knows what reason.

_ Maybe I feel things for him.  _

Reno showing up just shortly after he did, only really cemented the thought process—when he found his mood lifting just by him being near. They shared a bond that no one else would ever quite understand, and the subtle gravitation toward each other only really became obvious to him when he moved in. Even outside of the shared apartment, Cloud found himself standing within Reno’s personal bubble, and sitting next to him and not her. Rude earned the spot next to her and he’d finally owned up enough to admit it.

“It’s so good to see you,” Tifa smiled, missing some of the sadness in her face. Somehow, he believed she’d always hold a little of that for him, until he proved to her he really had let himself live again. “You’ve been pretty busy, I hear. People are talking about all the deliveries you’re making.”

“Yeah. I’ve put some mileage on my bike in the last few months especially.”

“It’s good to stay busy,” she nodded, and it hit him hard that he really had no idea what to talk about with her. The conversation felt thick with small talk, and probably largely due to how far he drifted away from her—leaving them with very little to connect anymore. 

“So, speaking of busy, how’d you get enough time off the bar to hang out with us losers?” Reno cut himself into the conversation with the practiced ease of a nosy bastard. Cloud appreciated it. 

“Ah. I finally hired some more help. I wanted a little time to myself sometimes. It’s so hard to get with people, if I can’t ever leave. I’d never see you or Cloud like this if I didn’t loosen the bar chains.”

“Yo, I totally get wanting to see him, he’s a sulky babe; but lil me?” He laid it on thick, true to Reno fashion in hamming it up. Cloud barely contained the eye roll—hell, maybe he did let it slip through. Reno said whatever hit his brain first and then went with it. 

Tifa played into it, though, and turned on a pretty smile—laced with a little playfulness. “Well, you know, sometimes I just want a little free entertainment. And Rude says if you put a little liquor in you, it’ll be a good show.”

The flicker that passed over Reno’s face went unnoticed by the two across the table, but Cloud saw it from his angle. Maybe he watched him a little more intently than he meant, but the animated way Reno spoke always did keep his attention. “Oh so that’s what the free drinks are about. Well shit, missy, I’m not even close to toasted enough to be a good time.”

“Food first, then more drinks,” she had a tone of responsibility that made Reno whine immediately. He’d go straight down a whole bottle if left unsupervised. Cloud saw it happen once. Cloud  _ participated _ once. 

“Spoil sport,” he found a smile and reached for his pack of cigarettes from his front pocket, absently. Cloud knew why he felt that itch to light one. The calming effect it gave him—a placebo, but no less valuable to him—offered to keep his head in the right space. He understood the urge, sitting across from a happy couple that only existed because they were both dumb bastards. Before Reno had to dig for a lighter, Cloud offered his—well, originally Reno’s anyway, but now his. Flicking the open flame, he held it out for him, earning a hum of appreciation. 

“Thought you quit, partner?” Rude asked, brow raised just over the rim of his sunglasses. 

“It’s recreational, yo. Who doesn’t smoke and drink in a nice bar setting? Eh?” Reno elbowed Cloud and tapped the pack to edge one out for him. He took it, naturally.

Cloud briefly caught that look Tifa gave him when he flicked the lighter and drew the first lit breath. Yes, he knew smoking was bad for him, but maybe...just maybe he wanted her to see he could make that choice without her input. Reno really turned out to be a bad influence, but he honestly had a pretty good time scooting by on the barest sense of responsibility sometimes. He learned he had a huge alcohol tolerance and—to Reno’s jealousy—rarely experienced the hangover effect. Tifa would probably be appalled if she saw the disorderly way they behaved on a regular basis. 

That’s why he didn’t think anything of it, when Reno ordered his drink for him. Mouthy redhead already knew what he wanted and how he wanted it; already probably making plans to pick up later, where they’d leave off after exiting the bar. Reno didn’t even look at him and Cloud managed to keep a smooth voice through the small talk, while Reno’s hand crawled up his thigh under the tablecloth. He really didn’t plan to come right out with it, and neither did Reno. He just knew Reno liked to skirt dangerously on the edge with that kind of thing. That had been how he got himself involved with Reno to begin with—inappropriately shoving him up against a bathroom stall, while Tifa and Rude sat just on the other side of a thin wall. 

“So, y’all ready to start makin’ babies yet, yo?” Reno broke a brief quiet moment, and Rude swallowed an entire mouthful worth of his drink down the wrong tube in response. Cloud pinched the bridge of his nose at his extreme lack of tact, but couldn’t deny it was such a Reno thing to do. 

“Reno, for fuck’s sake,” he exhaled and cuffed him on Rude’s behalf. He’d very likely have done it himself, had he not been dealing with a coughing fit. Tifa sat just too far out of reach to give him a clap for his crude commentary. 

“Whaaat, how’m I ever gonna be an uncle if they take forever.”

“Go make your own if you want kids around,” Rude finally recovered enough to chuck something on his plate at him. He didn’t even attempt to look at Tifa, so he didn’t see how pink her face had become. 

“Me? Kids? Oh naaaaah. I’d rather spoil yours and then give ‘em back. ‘Sides, I ain’t in any relationship that can give me kids, yo. An’ I ain’t about to change that.” Reno didn’t look at him, but his fingers danced along the inner part of Cloud’s thigh. 

“Doing this damn planet favors, honestly,” Rude grunted, clearing his throat and drinking plain water to sooth the aftermath of his Reno-caused coughing fit. Reno didn’t break his grin, even a little bit, at the shot Rude took. He knew perfectly well that one Reno served more than enough mayhem for all of them. He didn’t need to spread his genes any further. 

Reno snickered, nursing his glass some more, and then leaning closer to Cloud. “Yo, bitchface, you gonna gimme a ride home later?” So bold, and slightly stupid. “Can’t ask Rude, he’ll kill me now.”

“Didn’t you drive here?” He didn’t look at him, instead glancing away in the opposite direction, eyes rolling back a little. 

“Yeah, but I’m gonna be smashed by the time it’s time to go, yo. I can have someone come get my car in the mornin’.”

“I’ll think about it,” he hummed, blowing a steady stream of smoke off to the side. “Not carrying you, though.”

“Some Prince Charming you are. Rude would carry me,” he accentuated a pout, but Cloud understood his teasing. Neither of them cared for gentleness between them. 

Cloud preferred the sharp way they interacted; taking shots at each other and maintaining the abrasive personalities… which largely contributed to losing the two across the table from them. That wound didn’t sting so much anymore, though. Maybe a little, if he thought too hard on it. But exposure to Reno rarely gave him the time to dwell anymore. And Reno’s sloshy request only meant they’d be back home at the same time. No one had to know they’d be going back to the same place, anyway. 

Despite Reno’s whining, the atmosphere remained quite relaxed. Food came and then drinks shortly after. Tifa knew well enough to keep them from drinking on an empty stomach, and Reno easily stood to be the worst offender. He already loosened up comfortably enough that he shamelessly started picking food off Cloud’s plate, if he deemed it tasty enough to steal. Cloud didn’t care all that much, though he did think he saw a questioning look from Rude at his lack of reaction to Reno’s antics. It had been such a brief glance—from behind sunglasses—that Cloud couldn’t be sure. But he knew better than to be rattled by it.

“I love this song,” Tifa spoke between the sips of her own drink. She wouldn’t drink much, being a bartender herself and having seen how unsightly drunk people could get. All she wanted was to spend time with them and be normal people socializing for a change—as normal as Reno and Cloud could be sitting across from people they both lost. Whether she knew or not...he really never wanted to know. 

“It’s a good song, yo.” Reno agreed and leaned closer to the table, snacking on another untouched piece of Cloud’s food. The grin forming on his face directed toward Tifa and he then held his hand out to her. “Heya, wanna dance, babe? Know these two un-fun bastards won’t do it. But I will.” 

Rude turned his head with a soft, “tch,” and Reno tilted his head back toward her. He didn’t have to spare a single glance at Cloud to see how briskly he agreed with his statement. If not dancing to this poppy music made him un-fun, then he would wear that crown proudly.

“See, spoil sports. C’mon, hit the floor with me, girly.”

She did look between Cloud and Rude, and neither of them offered even a hint of objection, so she huffed a little and threw her hand right out to the noisy Turk. “Okay, let’s go. They can be boring by themselves!”

“That’s what I’m talkin’ bout,” Reno stood, her hand in his and surprisingly steady for a man who’d consumed quite a share of alcohol. Tifa cast one last look over her shoulder, sticking her tongue out, before sashaying away with Reno—a sight he never thought he’d see. A complicated sight to behold, honestly, as he wondered to himself who his slight sliver of jealousy directed itself toward. 

He had been left at the table with Rude, busying his hands with Reno’s pack of smokes and watching the two out there dancing to the fun little tune that Tifa liked so much. She looked happy, having a good time swaying and dipping with Reno; and Reno...stirred some thoughts in his head that made him have to suck a breath of smoke much more sharply. Watching his body move the way it did, almost had him wishing he did dance in a public space. But not even that allure would get him to do that where anyone could see him. Not ever again. 

“You know,” Rude’s voice dragged his attention away from Reno and Tifa. “Feels awfully like a double date happening here.”

Cloud  _ almost _ failed to keep his startled reaction to himself, but he recovered so quickly that it didn’t quite make it to the surface. He did reach for his drink, and he did drink a little more than a mouthful in the empty space before he replied to his  _ observation.  _ “Is that so?” He really had nothing better to say? Evidently not. 

“Hmm,” Rude had no better words to follow up with, either, but the statement he threw out hung in the air heavy enough to do its damage. Double date, huh? How much did Rude suspect of them? He knew Reno exceptionally well, but well enough to recognize when he secretly rebound fucked his former enemy, then decided to move him into his apartment and keep him? 

Cloud couldn’t help but let his eyes wander back over to Reno to consider the fine line between miserable companionship and a real relationship. At what point had they landed on the side where Cloud considered that staying with Reno...might not be so awful of a thing? 

Fortunately, Rude didn’t like to talk, and neither did he; so he remained quietly tucked away in his head, trying to pinpoint where his feelings for Tifa had spun out and threaded back into the mess of a person that was Reno. 

He had no answer for that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who’s read up to now!


	9. Chapter 9

[You bitch]  
[How could you do that and just leave me like this]  
[Reno!!!] 

His phone buzzed several times, leaving him staring at the messages machine-gunning to him from Cloud. Not even half an hour before these texts angrily alerted his phone, he’d been right there next to him—enjoying a single glass of whiskey at the bar. Tifa invited everyone, but after a while, he had to politely step out because—unbelievably—Reno had enough responsibility to duck out when he knew he had an early work morning. His housemate’s slew of messages did have him wracking his brain, however, to try and figure out what he did to earn his ire. 

[Wat did I do?? I wasn’t even there long enough to start shit!!] He waited for the evidence of Cloud’s immediate reply to show in the message screen. In that time, he retraced his steps the whole night, trying to pinpoint the moment Cloud’s demeanor may have changed. He came up blank, not recalling any point where anything seemed amiss.

[Theyve been asking me questions since you left asshole!!] 

Questions? What kind of questions would they have to ask because of something he’d don— oh.

Oh no. He put the phone down to rub his face and then cover it with his hands, taking a moment to...laugh. Laugh at his own fuck up and then also the fact that he just stuck Cloud in the aftermath of it. Poor fucker had to deal with the  _ slew _ of questions that probably came at him the instant the door smacked the frame behind Reno. He did not mean to place him in that position, but at some point he’d gotten into a stupid habit of leaning over to kiss the blond bitch goodbye. 

The stupid habit started as a joke. Cloud asked him when he’d be home and his response had been a cheeky peck on his mouth and a snide remark that he’d  _ be home in time for dinner, honey _ . 

Not once did he ever imagine he’d slip and do that where  _ literally all of their friends _ would be there to witness it. 

[lol whoops.] He pressed send before he had the chance to think about it and edit his reply to something a little less passive. He really did have a lot more to say in defense of himself, but nothing he’d give the man would do a damn thing to help his situation. At least he hadn’t gone with his original gut reaction:  _ at least it’s you and not me lmao!  _ Cloud would kill him and he’d laugh through the whole thing.

[You bastard]  
[At least stick around if you’re gonna out us!]

Out them, hmm? Shoot, he really had made it difficult to wiggle out of it with a simple:  _ I just slipped, my bad.  _ Reno had definitely not slipped, at least not in the context of his intent to kiss Cloud. Now, he definitely slipped in doing it where a small crowd of people could see it. That absolutely didn’t factor into his plans; but if the worst thing he did involved being up in Cloud’s personal space, then he’d probably do it again without hesitation. 

[What did they say?] He started.  
Then quickly added, [what did you say??]

[Well first I was asked if I was going to kick your ass for that.]  
[and I still might.]

[Sounds hot.]

Cloud sent him a frown emoji and Reno snickered. [Then Tifa asked if you were the one I’m living with.]

[Totally told her, didn’t you?] He knew Cloud would not lie to Tifa. He told on himself, making Reno only half to blame—at least that’s how he spun it in his head.

[You put me on the spot!! Thankfully Rude felt fucking pity for me and said that you just do that to people, so they stopped asking questions.]

[What kinda questions tho??]

[/you’re with Reno??/, /you swing that way??/, /I thought you were into you know who??/. All the questions I don’t want to answer.]

Reno sat back and thought about it. A part of him wished he’d been there to hear those questions and his answers, assuming he’d answer any of them. Cloud didn’t have even close to the amount of skill he had in diverting subjects away. He’d get stuck and blubber answers or he’d close up entirely. Which of these occurred before Rude stepped in for the save? He implied he answered Tifa. But what about the others? He said he didn’t want to answer them, but if he had no choice, what would he say?

Would he even admit to  _ being with Reno _ ? 

Reno found himself frowning a little at the face of the phone. He shouldn’t care that much about whatever answer he threw out to shake them off him; but he found he wanted to hear him say, “yes, I’m with Reno.” Who cares what way he swung, none of them were sleeping with him anyway; well, as far as he knew, and he considered himself a pretty good gauge on Cloud’s activity—since they lived together. 

[I’da just told em to mind their own business man. Even if you were, what’s it their business??] He messaged back, after a moment of thought.

[Right]  
[Even if I were]

His frown deepened a little, not having an immediate retort. Usually, he could snap back with something quick, but he couldn’t parse out the tone of Cloud’s last messages. Even in person, he could be difficult to read—as sometimes his tone lay flatter than beer left out overnight. When his voice lacked any real pitch, Reno suspected he’d lost himself in thought or something was wrong. But which of the two backed his flat as hell text tone? Or maybe Reno read into it wrong entirely.

Calling him up to ask him felt exceptionally clingy, but he considered it. Did his accidental flub leaving the bar really make him mad? Or were they doing that same thing they always did, flinging names at each other while laying in  _ bed together _ in the end?

Damn it, feelings weren’t supposed to be involved in any of it. But he damn sure felt a lotta things. The anxiousness definitely took him by surprise, though. Not knowing his actual feelings and being  _ concerned _ about it, set off a whole plethora of alarm bells in Reno’s head. For a brief moment he considered his stupid action being enough of a trigger to make Cloud withdraw and leave. Immediately, he squashed that back down as a goddamn ridiculous line of thought. 

[When are you gonna be back?] He asked, not sure how to express his discomfort of not knowing. 

[Maybe in the morning. Might stay overnight. Drinking more than I should drive with.]

Reno  _ deflated _ upon receiving that message. Cloud never stayed overnight there anymore, the timing gave him plenty of reason to believe he ticked him off enough to stay away to cool down. The two of them didn’t operate in a way that required they both be attached at the hip or anything, but  _ something _ about the whole exchange prompted him to fret like he never fretted in his whole damn life. 

[You mad at me?] He sent the message before he had a chance to back off and act less pathetic. 

The response took much longer to come back to him than he hoped for, but eventually his phone buzzed and he flicked the screen to open the message. [No.]

That didn’t sound like an earnest  _ no _ in his head. Fuck all—

[Rude said I should make you sweat a bit.]

Wait a whole fucking minute—

Rude, the damn traitor,  _ would _ let Reno suffer that way. He knew how badly Reno reacted to being unable to hear tone. But...then that definitely meant Rude knew about him and Cloud—he had come to Cloud’s rescue after all. Which was kind of him, since he could have just watched Cloud squirm through the questions he said he received. Sort of a bro move on Rude’s behalf—Cloud didn’t really deserve to be pestered for his association with Reno. If he didn’t feel like slugging him for encouraging Cloud to stress him out, he’d buy him a drink for his good deed. Fortunately for Reno, Cloud was a weenie, and didn’t have the heart—apparently—to prolong his agony. 

If  _ he  _ were put up to it, he’d be able to keep that shit going all night. Probably. 

[You really going to stay the night there, then??] He found himself asking, because he couldn’t imagine he’d want to, unless...he had gotten over his thing with Tifa enough that he no longer dwelled on it. Enough time passed for that...hell, he didn’t really consider Rude’s involvement in any aspect of his life to be a knife to the chest anymore. 

[Dunno. Guess you’ll find out.]

[You bitch.] He scoffed at his phone and almost tossed it across the bed to roll over and yell into the sheets. The bed had an empty feeling to it without the dumb blond lounging half naked next to him. Or naked, depending on the day’s events. 

At that moment, he’d much rather be laying next to him, than waiting on ambiguous texts that may or may not be fucking with his head and making him question his feelings. He grumbled and tapped the keys on his screen and his thumb hovered over the send key. In the end, he closed his initial message and instead sent, [just come home, damn it]. 

He’d been one thumb tap away from sending a totally different message, but chickened out like the insecure bitch he could be. If Cloud  _ didn’t  _ consider himself  _ with _ him, then he’d feel like a big jackass. 

So [i love you, stupid] remained unsent. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is probably in the top three of my favorite chapters. Sometimes things go my way when I’m writing.
> 
> Thank you to everyone reading along!


	10. Chapter 10

“It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to see you, Cloud,” she smiled at him from the other side of the bar. The two of them were alone, doors already closed for the evening and he’d stopped in to see her—somehow finding himself helping her clean up after the customers all cleared out. He didn’t mind lending her a hand, but so much time had passed since the last time that the whole task had a foreignness to it. Once, he used to help her frequently—as he lived at the establishment at the time. But since he’d left, he found his stops were infrequent and usually much shorter. Often accompanied by Reno, who’d never turn a drink down.

“Yeah. I’ve been busy.” He folded the towel and dropped it on the glassy bar top, finished with the tables that needed to be wiped down. Once cleared of his volunteer work, he took a seat across from her to watch her restock and clean glasses to stack. “Delivery jobs have been piling.”

“I heard from Rude, that you’re doing deliveries for Shinra?” She quirked a brow and tilted her head, possibly surprised with him for that choice. Likely, she knew a whole bunch of stuff from Rude, but Rude often didn’t know what it took to get Cloud to agree to do any work for Shinra. Period. Reno had to do a lot of talking, begging and otherwise putting his mouth to good use to get him to help. And only after Reno could provide him a reason to believe that Rufus hadn’t gone back to being a piece of shit with his splintered—but still very powerful—company. 

“I do deliveries for Reno, that’s it,” he corrected, and didn’t care how much he was admitting to in the process. Rude knew; though neither he nor Reno ever explicitly confirmed anything to anyone, they knew for certain that at least one person connected all the dots. No one knew Reno quite the same way as Rude and he wouldn’t go spewing to the whole world that he knew his best friend and girlfriend’s best friend were live in fuck buddies; companions, boyfriends, whatever they wanted to call it. 

Yeah, he suspected everyone else probably thought it, and none of them would be surprised after the events in the bar all those months ago. But Reno said it best at the time: none of it was their business. Tifa and Rude could keep their crown as the spotlight couple and Cloud would be perfectly content with that. His whole reason to be there that night stemmed from a rumor he heard that he’d nearly confirmed to be true; he just wanted to hear it right from her. 

“More importantly, I heard around that you’re engaged now? Is that true?”

As soon as he spoke the words, a smile touched her lips. “Yeah. I’ve been meaning to send you an invite...for when we actually do it, but you’re hard to pin down.” She poured him a glass of something she knew he’d like. 

“Just mail it to Reno,” he chuckled and took the glass from her. “He knows where I live.” Cheeky.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure he does,” she gave him one of her amused smiles and went around to sit beside him with a glass in her own hand. “Never thought I’d see that come to anything, you know? You and him.”

“I don’t even like him,” he gave her a dead stare over the top rim of the glass, while he tilted it back to drink.

“Oh stop it—,” her elbow followed it and he found himself strangling a chuckle. “You know I know, don’t be a brat. Rude told me he suspected it long before the mushy goodbye kiss. What did he whisper to you?  _ I’ll see you at home, honey _ ?” 

“I came here to congratulate you, and this is what I get. How does this always happen to me?” He feigned distress, glancing up toward the ceiling with a deep exhale; but really, he meant his congratulations sincerely. The Cloud of a couple years back would have punched his own head off his shoulders for losing who he thought meant everything to him; but Cloud of the present held nothing but well-wishings for her. She deserved someone who complimented her kind traits and offered better communication. No one really considered that might be Shinra Turk.

But fuck,  _ he  _ ended up with a Shinra Turk. He couldn’t really say a thing about it, even  _ if  _ he had disagreed with the choice.

Tifa brushed the hair back from her face and leaned a little against him. “I worried a little about telling you, to be honest. I knew that accepting his invitation in the beginning...might not settle well with you. But a tiny part of me, maybe hoped it would spark you to talk to me.”

Maybe he shouldn’t ask. That had a lot of potential to reopen that wound, but he found the words coming out anyway. “...What would have happened if I had said something?” 

She smiled and tilted her head. Like she could read his mind, she wouldn’t answer him with anything absolute. “Maybe we wouldn’t be having this conversation? Maybe we still would. I think maybe it worked out for the better, you shine brighter with him than you did with me.”

“Do I?” 

“Yeah. Rude says the same about Reno.”

Cloud furrowed his brows in thought, wondering if they really had behaved that differently in each other’s presence. The change had been so gradual that neither of them noticed enough to give it any real thought, but the dark cloud hanging over both of them did vanish at some point—at least it had for him, he couldn’t speak for Reno. 

Now it seemed like  _ forever _ ago that he’d been in a dark haze, doing Reno in the men’s bathroom. Definitely a detail that he wouldn’t be  _ sharing _ anytime soon...

“Maybe if we waited a little longer, we could have had a double ceremony,” she giggled and nudged him, probably taking delight in the pink hue to quickly touch his face.

“Like I’d ever marry that idiot,” he choked and took a  _ much _ larger sip of the burning liquid. “He’d never go with it anyway,” he grumbled after. 

“Hmm, I wonder.” Her smile plagued his peripheral vision and he turned his head away. “I bet he’d go for it, but only if he asked you first. He seems that type of way.” 

“If he does, he better do it in public so I can throw my drink at him and tell him he’s crazy in front of a bunch of people.” He leaned against the table and mused with a barely visible smirk. “Then apologize later and say I changed my mind.”

“You know, Cloud, I feel like he’d love to play that up. He does love attention.”

“He’d get his pay back by leaving me hanging at the Altar until it looks like I’ve been stood up,” he snorted and finally looked at her. “ _ Whoops my bad, I fuckin’ forgot the time, yo. _ ” 

Tifa barked a laugh, her face turning into his shoulder to settle out into a softer giggle. Having her close felt nice—in a different way than it once had. Her friendship had more value to him than whatever he thought he had before, and he smiled faintly at the tinge of pink she had on her face from laughter. Her arms wrapped around one of his and the action didn’t make his heart skip anymore. 

“I’m happy for you, Tifa, I really am,” he meant it earnestly. 

She squeezed his arm gently, “Thank you, Cloud. I hope you’ll be there when we pick a date.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for anything. Someone’s gotta give you away,” he glanced at her, almost asking permission if he could step into that role. 

“You’d want to do that?” Her gentle eyes moved across his face, gauging how earnest his words were. He meant it, and the ease of being able to say it lifted something. Giving her away, freed him; not from her but from himself. 

“Yeah, I think I could handle wearing a suit for you.”

“And a bow.” She poked. 

“That changes things, actually.”

“ _ Cloud _ !”

The admonishment in her voice faded through to a chuckle and Cloud found himself smiling enough to show on his face more than just a trace. The glass on the table barely touched the halfway point and he decided he didn’t need to drink anymore, a marked difference from how he might have felt even a handful of months ago—when he and Reno made a joint effort of killing a full bottle together for the sake of it. Now, instead, he circled one arm around her in a half-hug. Comfortable, happy for her. 

“Don’t worry,” she whispered to him, with a faint snicker in her tone, “we won’t dress you to match Reno. Rude has special plans for Reno.”

“...You gonna tell me or?”

The flash of delight in her eyes made it clear that Reno should feel threatened; and Cloud would quickly get behind any plan that involved giving the dumb asshole a hard time. She settled into his side to tell him about her wedding plans, and he found himself enamored with the joy in her voice. 

Did he still love Tifa? Absolutely. But maybe just a little differently. Someone else stepped into her shoes and she went off and found her Prince Charming—because he damn sure could never be that. 

He left the half full glass untouched when he went home to Reno.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The terrible fun fact about this whole damn fic is I wrote is 100% on a cell phone and uploaded it on mobile as well. SO, if the formatting gets fucked, I’m sorry 😂 please let me know.
> 
> Thank you for reading, it’s been a treat sharing.


	11. Chapter 11

“Damn yo, married huh? Times have changed, yeah? Imagine a Turk getting married a handful of years ago.” Reno mused, stubbing his cigarette out and leaned against his arm. “Be the shortest marriage ever when your beautiful babe goes suddenly missing.” He couldn’t help but laugh—though honestly, he wouldn’t want to be the person having to go after Tifa Lockhart. He had good reasons to believe she could kick his head right off his neck if he made a single misstep with her. 

“Hn,” Rude offered a chuckle, nursing a modest glass of their favored shared whiskey. How long had it been since he’d spend any significant time with Rude outside of work? Maybe a bit longer than he realized. Until that moment, he didn’t consider the passage of time to have rolled along so aggressively as it had. Nearly two years slipped by since the first time he caught wind of Rude going after his girl. Good for him, he thought in retrospect. Shy as the tough motherfucker could be with ladies, his approach to Tifa had been a big-balls kinda move. 

“Glad for you, yo. She’s gonna make an honest bride outta you,” his lips curled at the corners and he barked a short laugh at the punch he received to his shoulder. “Some extra floofy thing; lace and shit would look so good on you. I can teach you how to walk in heels, bro.”

“I bet you fuckin’ can, jackass.” Rude pushed him but he bobbed right back with a snicker. “It’s fine, though, I already got plans for you.” The smugness in his voice made Reno lean close enough to hang on his shoulder and stare him down intently.

“Whatchu mean you’ve got plans?” 

“Couldn’t let my Best Man go without standing out a little, now could I?”

Unquestionably, Reno would always be Rude’s best man; his assumption he’d be right there for him had been well founded. Even should he hate her damn guts, he’d take a few shots and tough it out to make sure he could be there for Rude. Fortunately, Reno liked Tifa well enough that he didn’t need to stand up and yell objections over it at their ceremony. She took good care of his best bro—better than he could, and he could comfortably admit that without feeling bitter about it. 

“What if I just don’t show up?” He puffed in his ear and could feel the rumble of quiet laughter come through him. 

“Then I’ll assume you’re dead and have to come find out what finally got you.”

“You big bastard,” Reno flicked his earring, making him grunt at him and swat him away. “I’m immortal and you can’t prove it to me otherwise.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep, because if you prove it, I’ll be dead and won’t give two shits a difference.” 

“You’re ridiculous,” Rude poured the bottle and refilled their drinks. Rude, more than anyone, could identify Reno’s point of no return in drinking—maybe Cloud too, actually, but the lil punk wasn’t with him that night. He had a delivery or something and left Reno to his own devices. A terrible move really, when he got word of Rude and his girl’s future plans  _ and  _ could catch him alone for a drink. 

For the briefest moment, hearing of it  _ stung _ . But after a lot of cigarettes and enough drinks to get his head unscrewed just a little, he’d figured that the dismay he experienced really came down to habit. Innate jealousy was some kinda shit. Especially when he laid it down to himself in the easiest to understand manner: if Rude dropped Tifa suddenly and declared his undying devotion to _ him _ ...he’d probably stay with the dumb bitch who currently inhabited his bed, anyway. 

Maybe Rude saw the it in his face, maybe the bastard just had Reno specific psychic tendencies, or maybe the timing came off like fateful positioning of words; but Rude turned to him with his sunglasses tipped forward a little.

“You ever come clean with your blond boy?” So direct; so unforgivingly frank. So probably put up to it by Tifa. Or maybe Rude held all the blame for the question and Reno just wanted to pretend he didn’t—because if he did, then it meant that he had a whole lot more transparency than he wanted to admit.

“Whaddya mean?” He scooted by, but Rude had him pinned down with his stare;  _ fucker tip your glasses back up _ — 

“He’s put up with you for who knows how the fuck long now,” Rude dismissed his counter entirely, but the statement certainly did tell Reno that Rude had been completely unaware of his duplicitous behavior with Cloud from  _ early _ on. “You feel some shit, don’t you?”

“Whoa now…” Reno sat back and brought his drink with him, taking a larger gulp out of it before he set it back down. “Why we gotta go down this way, yo—.”

“Because you’re a numbnut, and heaven help you if he can’t read your mind and gives up on you because you hide up in that clusterfuck of a head of yours.”

“Man, you’re the last dude I wanna hear this from—.” Reno hissed shortly, moving a little away from him. Once upon a time, Rude  _ was _ the dude who couldn’t read his mind—and that stung. 

“Maybe, but I’m the person you  _ should _ hear it from.”

The tone of his voice paused Reno in place for a long moment, some kind of dread hit his chest hard enough that he took a deep breath through his mouth. “Did you know this whole damn time…?” 

“About which thing? There’s a lot to unpack here. I figured out Cloud not long after he moved in with you. See the same bike parked in a lot multiple times and it’s pretty easy to assume. He also looks at you like you’re the only thing in his world. Not very discreet.” Rude paused, because he didn’t do long verbal exchanges often; maybe Tifa helped loosen him up in that way. “And you? I figured you had some reciprocal something or other going on, because you kissed the man in a public place without thinking.”

A cough raised in his chest and he brushed his hair out of his face, grunting a little at the memory of that incident.  _ An accident _ he swore, but the reality in that scenario boiled down to  _ habit _ . “I’m never gonna get to live that one down, am I?” 

“Not a chance. Especially because I had to cover your ass, since just admitting it is evidently beyond the scope of you numbnuts.”

“It’s...not that simple, yo…”

“Making everyone around you aware of it isn’t necessarily required. But maybe make  _ him _ aware of it.” Rude had a way of cutting right down to the heart of the matter where it concerned Reno. If only Reno didn’t rely on that  _ so much _ in the past that he let himself go silent and then let his opportunities dissolve through his fingers. This man, as his friend and long time partner, was telling him not to make the same mistake twice. Maybe not in those exact words, but… Reno interpreted the words that way.

“I think I...might fuckin’ love the dumb bitch,” he found himself admitting—surprising himself, even.

Rude’s expression softened, and Reno found the bottom of his glass suddenly  _ extremely  _ interesting—keeping his eyes glued down to the last bit of amber liquid swirling in the bottom. The words really had just slipped right out of his mouth, just like that. He thought back to the text he  _ almost _ sent, but didn’t for reasons unknown to himself. Chickened out, maybe. Or unsure of whether or not Cloud would respond positively to such a statement. 

Or...maybe finalizing the sentiment took more bravery than he considered. He could tell himself that something  _ real  _ kept Cloud in his orbit. He could leave an incriminating text unsent. He could tell Rude that he thought he loved the stupid bitch….but telling the stupid bitch to stay with him because he might have squishy thoughts about him…fuck, he didn’t know where to begin. He found himself right back in the same dilemma that lost even his  _ chance _ at Rude. 

Maybe if he said something back then, he wouldn’t be worrying about a bull headed blond man who hugged him in his sleep like he thought he was a goddamn body pillow or something; who knew Reno liked watching the stupid fuckin TV shows that he could never convince Rude to watch, and joined him for the hell of it; who didn’t mind that Reno chased dinner down with a glass of whiskey, even though they don’t go together; who stole his fuckin’ lighter and never gave it back, because it’s his trophy; who knew his body better than Reno even knew his own body.

Maybe...if he failed to say something going forward, he could lose all those things he never got from Rude, but did from someone who wiggled right into the empty spot Rude left behind.

“Tell him that, in those words, I’m sure he’d appreciate it better,” Rude topped his glass just a bit more, and then folded his arms on the table in front of them. “But seriously, I’m happy for you. You needed some kind of stability.”

“Hah, who knew I would get that from a pouty faced twink,” Reno shrugged, a little bit of warmth reaching his neck. 

“A twink for a twink,” a faint grin peeked over the edge of a half filled glass and the creeping warmth reached up to Reno’s ears; which he knew showed a red hue on all the way to his collar. 

“Man, fuck you, I ain’t a twink—“ When adeep chuckle followed, Reno dipped his fingers into his glass to flick liquid at him in protest. Aside from being forced to remove his glasses to wipe the droplets off the lenses, Rude appeared complete unbothered—as he usually did to any of Reno’s antics. 

“You are absolutely a twink, but at least you look good together.”

“Do we?” Reno fiddled with his glass, and settled a little into the he table, leaning on one arm. “Guess I’ll take that…Y’know, I’m extra fuckin’ bad at this, man. You and her make it look easy ‘n shit.”

“Easy? Hm. Might be easier if you let go of the past and let yourself have what you want now.” Without his glasses on, Reno had to look him in the eyes while he spoke the words and they cut into him; right down to his core. “Hope you’ll show up with Strife when we’ve finalized the date.”

“ _ With _ him?” A brow arched a little and Reno easily understood they’d both be there. But  _ with _ ? Coming with Cloud meant admitting it to whoever might cast wandering eyes their way…but then, he did outright kiss the bitch in a public place with everyone there watching. Maybe he’d admitted it before he  _ understood _ that he had. Cloud only tossed him disgruntlement over leaving him to deal with it. Maybe he hadn’t minded it all that much either. “Yeah… maybe we could.”

“Tifa would be glad to hear it.”

“Man,” Reno scoffed softly, nudging him with his elbow, “your pretty wife put you up to badgerin’ me didn’t she?” His word choice struck just as he intended, forcing a flush to his face—if Reno had to deal with the red faced shit, so did Rude. 

“Not wife yet,” he grunted, clearing his throat just to say it. 

“Soon, yo. And I bet she’s gonna be pretty as fuck, with a nice dress all snug up on them ti—.”

“You’re a cretin.”

Reno grinned widely, derailing the subject away from his own internal conflict by the only means he knew; though the thoughts didn’t quite leave him. He troubled himself more with thoughts of expressing his slush brained feelings toward his present roommate, than he did with handing his original object of unreciprocated affection over to someone more suited to care for him. 

He and Rude never stopped being bros—never would—but that’s where he had to leave it. While they continued idle chatter over the remaining drinks, he withdrew his phone from his pocket, thumbing through his messages to find the one he drafted some time before. 

He almost sent it. But then chose to delete it, in favor of writing a better one; a newer one, more honest with how they were with each other.

[I think I love you, you dumb twink.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I definitely bet Reno could walk in heels. Just sayin. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

When he stepped through the front door, immediately he sensed something  _ off _ . Lack of noise in the apartment almost had him wondering if Reno stepped out; but his eyes fell over telltales signs of his presence in the form of his wallet and keys on the table by the door. Not seeing him, or especially not hearing him, made him wonder if he went to bed already—early for him, but maybe he’d worked himself tired. Or...maybe  _ he’d  _ done something to make him mad. Reno never showed to be a yelling or arguing type—not toward any squabbles they’d had. When he got mad, he retreated to cool off most of the time.

Which could explain why the lights in the apartment weren’t on. Walking through the rooms—toward the one they shared—he racked his brain for anything he could have done in recent memory to upset him. Nothing stood out, but that meant nothing in the context of Reno. Seeking him out offered the only solution to that question, and he finally pushed the door open and peeked into the dark room. 

Even with the light low, Cloud could see Reno sprawled out on the bed. He already had his sleep clothes on and he didn’t appear to be awake based on the first glance. With a radio quietly humming in the background, he really couldn’t discern from his breathing whether or not he slept soundly or maybe fell asleep just a short bit before Cloud came home. Not until he stepped in and reached the edge of the bed, then he saw movement and eyes turning up to blink at him.

“Hey,” he leaned over, putting a hand on the mattress.

Reno’s face contorted—a downward curl to his lips and brows turning, scrunched together to display his displeasure at  _ something _ . Before Cloud could open his mouth to ask, the redhead shifted and rolled his body over to face away from him. 

He blinked for a moment and  _ knew _ he’d done something to upset him after all. With a short exhale—something like a sigh—he sat on the edge of the mattress, peeking over him to try and make any sort of eye contact. Reno practically rolled to lay face down. 

“Are you going to tell me why you’re upset with me or am I going to have to guess?”

He didn’t expect an answer. He usually didn’t get one when Reno got into his pissy moods; and dragging him out against his will never ended well. But to his surprise, he found a pair of green eyes making direct contact over his shoulder. His whole face looked touched by  _ uncertainty _ in the way his mouth turned to a straight line and his eyes held on to him so steadily—somewhat unnerving actually. Cloud started to feel guilty and he didn’t even know why he should, yet.

“...You never answered me, how’m I supposed to respond?” Reno mumbled, so quiet that Cloud strained to hear him. 

“Answered you…?” He quickly played back every bit of the last conversation he had with him and couldn’t think of a single thing Reno may have asked him or wanted a follow up on. “I...don’t know what you mean, Reno. You never asked me anything…that I know of…?”

“It wasn’t a question, you bi—,” Reno jerked, as if he’d startled himself into a hang of silence. His expressions switched into so many directions that it really only served to confuse Cloud  _ more _ . Fortunately, Reno swallowed and elaborated—sounding like he choked on something halfway through the words. “You...didn’t check your fucking messages again did you.”

“My messa—….no.” He admitted. He recalled shoving it in his back pocket, but didn’t remember ever taking it out of silent mode. Not the first time he’d ever done so, but evidently this time put him in hot water with his companion. “I’m sorry, is everything okay?” He waited for Reno’s answer, and fished for the phone to check it himself. 

He didn’t expect to be tackled by the pouting bed creature when he tried to turn the damn thing on. Reno’s body colliding with his did not make him release the phone—actually, the very opposite, out of fear of dropping it. Hands grappled for the device and after a few confused seconds, it clicked that Reno wanted to take the phone away from him before he could see it. What on earth could make him upset that he  _ didn’t  _ see it, and then  _ not _ want him to see it after calling his attention to it? 

Why did Reno have to be a complicated dipshit sometimes?

The tackle against him hadn’t worked in Reno’s favor, but Cloud had a much better position to just knock him back over and lay halfway across him to immobilize his attempts. Like pinning a fussing animal, with the way Reno threatened to bite him and wouldn’t stop squirming. 

“Give me that—.”

“You sent it in the first place. I was supposed to see it, right?” He edged further into the bed and wrestled with his long limbs, hooking a leg over him to keep him pinned—straddling his chest and brushing his messed hair out of his face so he could thumb through the device for his messages. Reno’s hands couldn’t reach the phone for the way he arched back a little and held it up toward the ceiling—looking up at the lit screen.

“You missed the cut off—now give—.”

“Nah.” He barely acknowledged his attempt. Fingers dug into his thighs, but he tuned out the sensation in favor of seeing what had Reno so jittery. One message, sent hours ago. Hours that he hadn’t noticed it, which really set Reno off—apparently. He had to lift his arms a little higher and dig his knees into his ribs to keep him from slapping the phone out of his hands, or snatching it away. He could read the message from the preview anyway, since the contents barely qualified as a full sentence. 

“I’m a twink, huh?... Look in a mirror lately?” He offered over a faint smile, glancing down to witness Reno’s expression dance all over the place again. When his expression settled into one of regretful embarrassment, Cloud lowered his arms and edged a bit closer. He dropped the phone on the mattress and placed both of his hands on each side of Reno’s head. “Did you think I saw it and decided to ignore it on purpose…?”

Reno searched his face, eyes trailing back and forth between him and the empty ceiling behind him. He opened his mouth several times to speak, only to falter and cut himself off. Not like Reno to choose his words so carefully. He always shot off at the mouth with the first thought to cross his mind. “S…’not like we ever fuckin’ talk about this shit, yo…”

“And who’s fault is that?”

“Bitch—.”

“Both our faults,” he cut him off, just before he prepared to snap sharply at him. Reno’s face burned. If he moved closer to him, Cloud could almost certainly feel the heat on his skin; he already saw the flushed red hue taking over his face and neck. “That’s how we ended up like this in the first place, isn’t it?”

“...Blond twink goes right for blood, huh..?”

“Redhead twink plays diversion tactics in response, hm?”

Reno snarled at him, turning his head away and staring at anything else. Cloud let him, because forcing his attention easily offered the possibility of Reno clamming up on him. However, hands reached up, trailing fingers over the curve of his shoulder and neck, then moving to guide his arms in an embrace—bringing him closer. Still, Reno didn’t look at him, instead he pulled him down on him, not caring that Cloud’s position had him bending awkwardly to do it. He didn’t mind it. Months—years—in Reno’s presence educated him on most of his intricacies. 

“You numb nugget,” Reno exhaled against his cheek, and Cloud worked his arms under him in response. 

“Think I’m used to your nonsense,” Cloud mumbled in his ear, closing his eyes and settling into a more comfortable position. He had a real temptation to just lay out over Reno, but any possible distractions could derail him in an instant. The words sent to him over text meant things they  _ shouldn’t  _ ignore. Glossing over their own feelings in the past earned them years of remorse. If they split for any reason, it wouldn’t be because no one said a damn word—even if Cloud believed they understood each other pretty well, wordlessly. 

He lifted his head to make eye contact with him again, having to chase his gaze and pin him so he couldn’t avoid him. The task became much easier after he dropped a kiss against his mouth. Turned him redder, but it stopped Reno from hiding in his distant stare at the wall. 

“You’re important to me, asshole. Wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. Not living with you, anyway. Turns out, though...it’s kinda nice to have someone to come back home for. Someone who isn’t demanding answers from me, or action. Most of the time anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I care for her, that never changed, what changed is the measure that I care… I love her, but she doesn’t make my heart go—what do you always fuckin’ say?—doki doki or some shit, like you do.”

Satisfying. That’s the word that came to mind when he watched Reno’s face darken to actually match his hair and his arms then slid off his shoulders to cover his own face. The sound he emitted could have been considered a distressed, remorseful cry of embarrassment. A joy to watch, really. 

“H—how the fuck—did you just say that with a straight face—,” Reno screeched shortly at him. “What in fuck’s name is wrong with you—,” he tried to roll away but Cloud still had him pinned. 

“Lots of things, actually. But you’re not one of them,” he murmured fondly in his ear, knowing it would only fluster him further. A correct assumption, because Reno’s hands clamped over his face even harder. The blush in his skin crept all the way to his ears and Cloud could almost  _ feel _ his heart beating in his chest. 

“You’re fuckin’ gross—,” Reno huffed under his hands, muffled, “with horribly bad taste—.”

“Maybe,” Cloud gently worked to pry the distressed hands from his face and make him look at him. “But you brought this on yourself,  _ yo _ .”

“I did invite your tragic ass into my life… maybe I have bad taste too,” he grunted and finally let Cloud expose his face from under his hand-mask.

“Yeah, you do. We both do.” Even so, he bent further to kiss him—dodging the teeth that threatened to bite him in flustered reflex. If he didn’t choose to take amusement at Reno’s bashful expense, he’d probably feel just as ruffled. 

Not since they started, had there ever been a single uttered word in direct reference to what they had. Even Reno asking him to move in worded itself in the most casual, unattached away. To see his text—even after the fact—did elicit some response in him. Enough that his response could only be slight, fond antagonism to make Reno feel what he felt. Both of them proved really, honestly, fucking terrible at this. But...at least they did better together than they’d done with other people.

“Yo...you embarrassed by me…?” Reno asked him, when Cloud released his face—giving back his ability to speak with his mouth no longer keeping him occupied. 

His question took him by some bit of surprise. “Embarrassed?”

“Yeah…like. Others knowin’, and shit...when I kissed you, you didn’t answer anyone...Rude covered for you… am I a fuckin’ embarrassment or what…?” Reno’s eyes refused to meet his again, and even Cloud—horrible at reading people—could identify the apprehension. Maybe this thought occurred to him before, and he never spoke about it. He hadn’t considered the way that scene played out to Reno; he’d already left, and hadn’t seen the terrible  _ blush _ that Rude said dominated his face. 

“No, well, yes, you’re a horrible embarrassment to anyone who knows you. But not for that reason.” Cloud paused, giving time to allow for Reno’s half-assed glare. “If anyone asked me directly, I would not deny it.”

“But you ain’t gonna offer it up either…”

“No. Because it’s not their business. It’s ours. No one else’s opinions or thoughts on the matter really mean anything; so inviting them to know, really doesn’t have a benefit. They can wonder forever for all I care. Won’t change anything. You’ll still be my bitch whether they know we are a thing or not.”

For a moment, Cloud absorbed the softened eyes Reno had focused on him. He and Reno might never behave like a normal pair, but they worked well for what they ended up being together. If anyone were to understand Cloud’s weird way of expression, it would be a person with the same level of difficulty showing his feelings. Even in a moment of trying, his choice of words broke Reno right out of a look of fondness, and right into a slowly forming scowl.

“Excuse me,  _ I’m _ the bitch—?”

“Yes. Definitely.”

“Come say that to my face ya punk bitch—,” he shifted up a little on an elbow to edge closer to his face from his place under him.

“Don’t whine at me when I do,” he swiped his hand under that elbow to drop him right back down, flat on the bed. He followed after him, taking his face in a modest grip, between his thumb and fingers to tilt his head and kiss him again, feeling lighter than before. 

No, Reno wasn’t Tifa. He didn’t have any of her softness and could be terribly crude. He certainly qualified as a bad influence and Cloud never smoked a single cigarette or drank so much before he ended up in his company. But Reno was Reno, and decidedly that was what he wanted.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So close to the end!! This was my favorite chapter I think. I’ll miss this fic, but I must move on! Already starting another 😂


	13. Chapter 13

“The ceremony was real nice,” Cloud slumped in the chair next to him, making it out of the group of people that began to move in on Tifa and Rude. The reception meant they could sit down and watch for a while from the background. Reno knew that Cloud didn’t really do party scenes well, more of a wallflower than anything. Provided he didn’t get bullied to participate, Cloud would sit and watch until he went home. Reno had a little more party animal in him, but wedding receptions meant he had to behave a little—no smoking and modest drinking. Snore.

But the wedding ceremony was a real sight, Cloud was right on that. They chose a relatively relaxed setting, and only invited people they had personal relationships with—friends and not just anyone who knew them. Tifa wore a shorter skirted dress, showing off those awesome legs in her sparkly heels; and Rude...really looked largely the same but in white instead of black. Not to say Rude didn’t look delicious. He always looked delicious. 

“Stare any harder and he’s going notice, you thirsty idiot,” Cloud’s voice cut his attention away from the really nice way the suit fit on Rude, not a wrinkle in sight and flattering his thick chest and nice ass arms—. “Oh for crying out loud.”

“Hey,” Reno snapped his eyes away and toward Cloud. “I’m allowed to look. He’s a snack, babe. You gonna tell me he isn’t?”

“At least be subtle, holy shit,” blue eyes fell on him, unimpressed and from the corner of his vision, Reno could see Cloud fiddling with something on the table. He folded a piece of paper on the table a few times in place of the usual things he fiddled with: a glass, a pack of cigarettes, a lighter. Habitual fidgeting that made Reno smirk a little. Once they got through the wedding aftermath, he decided he wanted to whisk the blond bitch away to a bar to close up the evening. 

“Subtle is for losers. I’ll tell him right to his face he’s a snack.”

“Then go right ahead.” The motion of his hand directed Reno’s attention along with it, up to where he hadn’t noticed Rude and Tifa approaching them—because of his distraction in watching Cloud. 

“You ran away quickly,” the subject of their conversation stopped just short of the edge of their table, one brow raised over the sunglasses he put back on just after the ceremony closed. 

“We’re an eyesore, babe. And you got all those pictures to take,” he offered his long time friend. “Besides, maybe I just wanna admire you from a distance, yo.”

“Right, because I’m a  _ snack _ , correct?”

“Ah, you heard that, huh?” He quickly kicked Cloud under the table at the first hint of a snicker out of him. 

“You have one volume, Reno.”

“You are a snack, though. I only speak the truth. And I wish you the very best,” he shifted in his seat to address Tifa, who looked at him with amusement. “And you better enjoy your snack, missy. I bet he’s  _ delicious _ .”

“ _ Reno _ —.” Rude never did stand a chance against him when he let himself be unfiltered.

“Oh I will,” Tifa put her free hand on her hip and tipped her head a little, the other arm looped with Rude, proud of her spoils. “Thank you for being so agreeable, Reno. Everything went so smoothly.” She looked him up and down and her sweet smile made him want to pout. Not because she stole his dude—nah, he long passed that—he could just see the joke in her eyes and he had no readily available retort. “You dress up nicely.”

“I’m gonna make you wear the lowest cut dress I can find to my wedding as retaliation,” he frowned, and found himself reaching for something on the table to fiddle with himself. 

“Oh stop it, it’s a good color on you.”

“Not that your tits don’t look fantastic in this dress too,” Reno vaulted right over her comment to continue on with his previous one. Ignoring her teasing about the  _ pink _ suit they tortured him with. “Rude’s a lucky dude, you should tell him that when you’re suffocating him in those tits.”

Rude cleared his throat, unable to fully hide the faint flush in his face. Still a little bashful, how cute. But he recovered much more quickly than Reno could have liked, almost like he grabbed on to something within the conversation with the full intent to turn it back on him and snipe him with it. 

“What was this about  _ your  _ wedding, Reno?”

Headshot, no less. 

“Fuckin’—a...a—hyperbole, yo,” he stuttered,  _ feeling _ the smirk from across the table. He didn’t have to look directly at Cloud Dumb BitchFace Strife to see the amusement. 

“Well, I’m glad to know we’re invited to this hyperbole of yours, yo,” Tifa leaned in a little to slide an arm around him and hug him. The temptation to motorboat her came so strong in the moment. He liked living, though, and she could probably punch his head off his neck. She wouldn’t murder him nearly as hard as Rude, though. 

“Babe, fuck, defend me already—,” he huffed in his partner’s direction, but Cloud leaned back and shrugged at him. The audacity—

“Nah, you jumped both your feet in your mouth and you gotta roll with it.”

Rude hummed beside them, “That’s a good one.”

“Man, fuck both of ya,” he scowled between them and stood, snaking an arm around Tifa. “I’m just gonna go steal the first dance with the blushing bride.”

“No one’s blushing more than you, Reno.”

“Can’t hear you, kidnapping in progress,” he enthusiastically pulled her away, leaving Rude to take his seat and sit with Cloud. He didn’t have a dancing bone in his body anyway. No one took his gesture as anything other than good spirited, earning a fond laugh from Tifa herself. At her wedding, she should be spoiled a little, she should get to dance; and he hoped a dance with him really showed that he wished her well. She didn’t take anything from him and he respected the hell out of her. 

“Pink really is a good color on you, Reno,” she whispered softly through a chuckle. She stepped easily in the heels, meeting the music with faint clicks and dodging his feet excellently with every twirl. 

“Ah stuff it—.”

“I meant your cheeks.”

“Eeeegh, extra stuff it—.” He stepped closer to circle an arm around her waist. “I came to your wedding to be abused. You’re lucky you’re a good lady.”

“Oh? You think so?” She flicked a stray strand of hair from her face, looking up to him. Her faint smile told him she already knew. If he didn’t already think it, he’d have never shown up to this little celebration. Or he’d already have already found himself looking at the bottom of a glass. His coping methods were bad and always obvious. 

“Take care of him, yo.” No one else could hear them for the music playing in the background. Everything he had to say, really equated down to the one small sentence. He didn’t need to explain anything else; that he had once wanted what she got, or that he finally accepted how perfect they seemed together. Just the one little request to look after his big softie of a best friend. 

She nodded, “I will. And one day, I’ll be saying the same thing to you.” 

He blinked at her and then flicked the stray hair from her face, even if it slid right back into place. The gesture had no actual threat to it, but had enough puffiness behind it to make her chuckle at him. Rude told her way too many secrets to getting under his skin, the damn traitor. “Who says you’re getting the first dance at  _ my _ wedding?”

“ _ I  _ did,” she declared and gave him no room to deny her. They both knew that Cloud  _ wouldn’t  _ dance if he could get out of it and Rude might break both of his feet if he tried. Tifa matched him more than well enough, and he couldn’t turn down the chance to twirl a pretty babe around for a bit. It would make for some interesting wedding pictures. 

They finished the song, and at the start of the next, Reno happily passed her along to the next person who wanted to celebrate with her. Though if he stayed and took all of her attention, perhaps he could have baited Rude to get up and attempt to dance. While a tempting thought, he preferred to swipe a couple drinks and come plop his ass right back down next to his companion—offering the bubbly drink to him. 

“What’d you spike it with?” He snorted, but took it anyway. 

“Hey babe, I have way more class than to slip shit into your drink at a  _ wedding  _ reception. Any other time? Maybe.”

Cloud raised a brow at him and sipped the champagne, knowing full well that Reno wouldn’t slip him anything, despite the jokes. No, he’d be upfront about it and Cloud would probably go along with it anyway—for the heck of it. The two of them, unsupervised, had plenty of chances to get themselves into some mischief at home. The way Reno preferred it. 

“Yo, you wanna leave here when this is over and go get trashed?” Reno offered, and realized he really just wanted to do so for fun and not for the reason that got them together in the first place. He couldn’t have imagined, in his wildest dreams, he’d leave his best friend’s wedding, to someone else, in a relatively good mood.

“How trashed we talkin’?”

“Trashed enough that we don’t even make it to the bed, yo.”

Cloud eyed him over the rim of the fancy glass. “Hmm, sounds like something I could get behind.”

“Get behi—, you cheeky shi—,” Reno started but swallowed it back when Rude stepped up beside him, his shadow looming over him. He had his arm wrapped around his flustered new wife, who looked like she danced with every damn person before Rude went to scoop her out of the fray. “Hey babes, aren’t you supposed to be off makin’ babies already?” He switched tunes  _ quickly _ . “We ain’t gettin’ any younger, and I wanna be an uncle before I’m forty.”

That got both of them a little red faced and Reno felt so proud of himself for throwing them off before Rude recovered and cuffed him. He earned it and accepted it. 

“Since you’ve already stolen the first dance, come get ready for your best man speech,” Tifa chided him, telling them they were closing in on dinner time. He thought these weddings were stiff as hell, but they wanted to do it. If it were him? It would be a big fuckin’ party where he’d throw Cloud on the table and do shots off his naked chest if he could get away with it. 

“I’m gonna have the floor to embarrass my best bro that easily? You’re too kind,” he cheekily toasted her. “We’ll be right there, babe.”

Reno watched them head back to the row of tables, satisfied with his answer. “So much for getting a few drinks down first. How’m I supposed to embarrass him to the max stone cold sober.”

“Maybe that’s why they’re corralling you  _ now _ . You know, curb the damage.”

“Don’t underestimate me, babe, I cannot be tamed,” he stood, swiping up his drink in one hand and openly offering his other hand to Cloud. 

He knew his assigned seat for dinner was staged right next to Cloud’s; and they could never convince him that Cloud’s deep red suit hadn’t been selected to compliment standing next to him. They looked like a pair and stuck together for every bit that didn’t involve the ceremony itself. So what did it matter if Cloud took his hand in public? They didn’t have to explain themselves to anyone. No one would ask—no one would be brave enough to make a scene there of all places. 

Maybe Cloud wouldn’t want to hold his hand in a place where all of his friends gathered. 

Maybe he wouldn’t like the idea of being that personal where anyone could see. 

Or maybe, Cloud was always just an awkward little bitch who didn’t know how to act about anything, with anyone. 

The question of whether or not he’d reach back, dissolved out of Reno’s mind, when Cloud took his hand to rise and didn’t let go. He pulled him closer instead, to drop a very brief kiss on his mouth. Nothing intense or extravagant, but enough to remind Reno that they passed that stage of questioning already. 

“Farewell kiss out of the way, now go embarrass Rude until he kills you.”

“You’ll miss me when I’m gone, babe.”

“Ehhh.”

Reno chuckled with a faint smirk at him over his shoulder. He pulled him along toward the dinner table, so he could take his seat next to his blond bitchface. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just the epilogue left!! Decided, next fic is going to be an experiment I think 🤔


	14. Epilogue

“Late again, huh?” Tifa placed a glass in front of him and Cloud took it with modest appreciation. He couldn’t help but offer her a small smile and a shrug at her question. They both knew what to expect of Reno, and his habit of showing up late to this particular event. Cloud couldn’t be mad. If anything, he found it more amusing, rather than something to get wound up over. 

“You know how he is,” he shrugged and absently fiddled with the time-worm lighter he’d kept with him for nearly fifteen years. The damn thing didn’t light anymore. It needed a new flint and a fluid refill, and he always forgot to do that—losing the mild cigarette habit made it a futile effort anyway. If he shared one pack with Reno over the course of a year, it would be generous. But the lighter offered some familiarity, and something to fidget with. He kept it because he had at least one redheaded thread of sentimentality in him. The metal lid clicked while he waited for that disaster to show up, late to his own party.

“You can’t say he isn’t dedicated to this tradition,” Rude mused, wiping his hands on a towel and letting the dishes dry, while food slow-cooked in a pot behind him. 

“Why  _ does _ he always do this, uncle Cloud?” A girl’s voice prompted him to turn a little in the chair and catch sight of Aeris coming down the stairs. She looked like her mother, but with Rude’s warm skin tone—a complimentary combination that made Reno absolutely right when he said they’d make pretty babies. Unfortunately for the poor girl, there were at  _ least _ three strong men ready to intimidate anyone who got ideas. And even worse, one strong mother that made the three men look like babies. Her teenage years would be interesting. Especially when she had so much personality. Cloud knew Aerith would have loved her to pieces.

“Because he’s dumb,” he finally offered and patted the seat beside him, inviting her to bring her book over and sit beside him while they waited for Reno to stop being a difficult shit. She paused her studying to come down, thinking they were both already there. 

“How long’s he gonna be?” She pouted and moved to squish herself into his side for a hug. 

“Probably about an hour.” He usually took about an hour to waltz in, cheeky grin prepared—like he had pride in being a shithead. He did. And Cloud didn’t mind it. He would show up and that’s what mattered. “He’s never taken longer than that.”

“So is he late on purpose?” 

“Yeah, but he’ll tell you otherwise,” he chuckled, flicking the wheel on the lighter, despite it having no spark left in it. “Will swear he forgot the time or read his watch wrong or any damn thing.”

“But... _ Why _ ?” Poor girl didn’t quite get it, but most people wouldn’t. 

“Told you, he’s dumb. Showed up late to his own wedding, like he’s in a hurry for much else.” He knew that Reno would never be late to work, or would never be late when meeting Cloud somewhere else. He could arrive on time to everything else, but his own wedding anniversary? Nah. He showed up late to the wedding  _ itself _ . But Cloud couldn’t even be mad at him. The memories made him smile a little, pocketing the lighter with more years on it than the girl hugging his side. “Reno’s just Reno.”

He reminisced a bit, then fished his phone out of his pocket when he felt it vibrate against the metal of the lighter. Without even turning the glass face toward him, he already knew what he would see.

[Hey bitch.]

[Love ya.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s the end, friends. Thanks for reading along at my redemption fic for the shit I put out in my teens. This fic gave me a pretty good look at my own growth from years ago. I absolutely do take criticism if there’s something you think I need to grow on. Or if you see a grammar flub I can fix. Let me know, I will fix it. I’m already started on a different fic, so maybe you’ll see me again in the near future ;)
> 
> Thank you to everyone who commented along the way! I will reply to you as soon as I’m able.


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